Robotic Verse Laparoscopic Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of 11 Individual Studies.

Objective: Robotic surgery is a new technique with the benefits of a 3-dimensional view, the ability to use multidegree-of-freedom forceps, the elimination of physiological tremors, and a stable camera view. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and short-term outcomes of robotic surgery for gastric cancer, compared with conventional laparoscopic surgery.

Methods: A literature search was performed for comparative studies reporting perioperative outcomes of robotic gastrectomy (RG) and laparoscopic gastrectomy (LG). The methodological quality of the selected studies was assessed. The data were analyzed using Stata (Version 13.0) software.

Results: Eleven studies of 3503 patients totally were included for meta-analysis. Compared with LG, RG indicated potentially favorable outcomes in terms of blood loss [weighted mean difference (WMD)=-36.50; 95% confidence interval (CI), -61.39 to -11.61], and time to oral intake (WMD=-0.28; 95% CI, -0.46 to -0.09). But RG suggested longer operative time (WMD=53.48; 95% CI, 38.84-68.12). There were no differences in terms of postoperative flatus, length of hospital stay, postoperative complications, and lymph nodes harvested (P>0.05).

Conclusions: RG for the treatment of gastric cancer is a feasible and safe procedure in the hand of experienced laparoscopic surgeons. But the long-term outcomes between the 2 techniques need to be further examined.