Short-term outcomes of totally robotic versus robotic-assisted distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer: a single-center retrospective study

TL;DR

This study compares two robotic surgery methods for gastric cancer and finds that totally robotic surgery has better short-term outcomes in some areas.

Contribution

The study provides a direct comparison of short-term outcomes between totally robotic and robotic-assisted distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

Findings

Totally robotic distal gastrectomy resulted in less blood loss, shorter recovery times, and lower postoperative inflammation markers.

There were no significant differences in operation time, lymph node retrieval, or complication rates between the two methods.

Totally robotic surgery showed advantages in postoperative recovery and incision length but not in cost or hospital stay duration.

Abstract

Totally robotic distal gastrectomy (TRDG) is being used more and more in gastric cancer (GC) patients. The study aims to evaluate the short-term efficacy of TRDG and robotic-assisted distal gastrectomy (RADG) in the treatment of GC.

We retrospectively collected the clinical data of patients who underwent TRDG or RADG, of which 60 patients were included in the study: 30 cases of totally robotic and 30 cases of robotic-assisted. The short-term efficacy of the two groups was compared.

There was no significant difference in the clinicopathological data between the two groups. Compared to RADG, TRDG had less intraoperative blood loss(P = 0.019), less postoperative abdominal drainage(P = 0.031), shorter time of exhaust( P = 0.001) and liquid diet(P = 0.001), shorter length of incision(P<0.01), shorter postoperative hospital stays(P = 0.033), lower postoperative C-reactive protein(CRP)(P = 0.024) and lower postoperative Visual Analogue Scale(VAS) scores(P = 0.048). However, no significant statistical differences were found in terms of total operation time(P = 0.108), number of lymph nodes retrieved(P = 0.307), time for anastomosis(P = 0.450), proximal resection margin(P = 0.210), distal resection margin(P = 0.202), postoperative complication(P = 0.506), total hospital cost(P = 0.286) and postoperative white blood cell(WBC)(P = 0.113).

In terms of security and technology, TRDG could serve as a better treatment method for GC.