Robot-assisted general surgery in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Robot-assisted surgery refers to a surgeon controlling a robotic device that performs an operation. This viewpoint explores the current state of robot-assisted surgery in Aotearoa New Zealand using the da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, California, United States), the only currently available robotic surgical system for general surgery in the country. We describe the contemporary progress in Aotearoa New Zealand compared to Australia and globally, and present emerging high-level evidence from randomised controlled trials regarding the utility of the robot-assisted approach for general surgery procedures.