To determine long-term survival in patients undergoing robot-assisted surgery (RAS) or laparoscopic surgery (LAS) for colon cancer.

The potential long-term benefits of RAS compared with LAS for colon cancer are not well examined. Using a register-based approach, we aimed to compare these 2 surgical platforms in an analysis of long-term outcomes, including recurrence-free survival and all-cause- and colon cancer-specific mortality.

A nationwide register-based cohort study of patients with Union for International Cancer Control stage I-III colon cancer undergoing planned RAS or LAS from 2010 through 2018. Patient demographic, clinical, and pathological data were retrieved from Danish national registers. Survival and recurrence rates were estimated by Cox proportional hazard multivariate regression analysis adjusting for baseline covariates.

A total of 7565 patients [LAS=6905 (91%) and RAS=660 (9%)] were included in the complete case survival analysis. Patients undergoing LAS had a significantly increased risk of cancer recurrence [LAS=1178 (17.1%), RAS=82 (12.4%), P=0.002] with a mean follow-up time of 4.93 years (standard deviation 2.47). The survival analysis of recurrence-free survival favored RAS [hazard ratioadjusted=0.80, 95% CI (0.64–1.00), P=0.049]. No associations between the 2 surgical platforms were evident regarding all-cause [hazard ratioadjusted=0.98, 95% CI (0.82–1.17), P=0.783] or colon cancer-specific mortality [hazard ratioadjusted=0.89, 95% CI (0.67–1.18), P=0.405].

Adopting RAS for colon cancer was associated with improved recurrence-free survival. However, it did not cause a lower all-cause- or colon cancer-specific mortality.