Dolores T. Müller

As a member of the working group "Robotic Innovations and New Technologies" headed by Priv.-Doz. Dr. Fuchs at the Department for Visceral Surgery at the University of Cologne, I have been working on the usage of new technologies, innovations, and robotics in surgery of the upper gastrointestinal tract, especially esophageal surgery. Throughout these years, I was able to present my work at national and international conferences and publish in peer-reviewed journals. Our research has demonstrated the successful introduction of robotic and new minimally invasive technologies at our hospital without compromising surgical quality. Thanks to my Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Emerging Technologies and Minimally Invasive Surgery of the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract at the Foundation for Surgical Innovation & Education at the Oregon Clinic in Portland, OR under the direction of Drs. Lee Swanstrom and Christy Dunst, I was able to expand my deep knowledge of minimally invasive surgery and gain new experience especially with innovative technologies, such as virtual reality devices for postoperative pain management. Future studies will focus on establishing digital recording of ergonomics and workload in the robotic operating room, especially targeting the use of different robotic surgical systems for optimization of the working environment and surgical outcomes.

RECENT STUDIES

Through my dissertation, I was able to gain initial knowledge on new technologies and published first results on the validation of the new laryngopharyngeal pH-metry Restech. In a subsequent study, the effects of a software update on the measurements could also be shown and thus first experiences on the influence of computer-assisted evaluations could be gained. Further work has demonstrated the successful introduction of robotic and new minimally invasive technologies in our hospital. Using a modular approach when first introducing the new robotic surgical system in terms of a step-up procedure, we were able to define 6 phases of esophagectomy. This step-up model allowed a safe introduction of robotic esophagectomy at our facility without compromising surgical quality and patient outcomes. The esophagogastric anastomosis is of particular importance, as anastomotic leakage is one of the most serious complications after esophagectomy and has a significant impact on postoperative mortality and morbidity. We were able to show in a following study, that a standardized technique and postoperative interventional endoscopic management can significantly reduce the rate of anastomotic leakage as well as its severity. We recently published a propensity score matched short-term outcome analysis comparing outcomes of robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy (RAMIE) vs. hybrid minimally invasive esophagectomy showing the advantages of a robotic approach.