title: Current status of robotic distal pancreatectomy: a systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this systematic review is to determine the potential advantages of robotic distal pancreatectomy (RDP).
  
  
  METHODS
  Both randomized and non-randomized studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two investigators independently selected studies for inclusion by article abstraction and full text reviewing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five non-RCTs were included in the review. The feasibility of RDP (95.4%) and spleen-preserving rate is between 50% and 100%. Mean OT varied between 298 min and 398 min with only completely robotic procedures, whereas mean OT was 293 in "laparoscopic/robotic" technique. Postoperative length of hospital stay ranged from 7 days to 13.7 days. The 30-day postoperative overall morbidity resulted between 0 and 18% of patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RDP is an emergent technology for which there are not yet sufficient data to draw definitive conclusions with respect to conventional or laparoscopic surgery. The mean duration of RDP is longer with Da Vinci robot, but hospital stay is shorter even if it is influenced by hospital protocols. We cannot make any conclusions comparing the outcomes to laparoscopic or open procedures here, since none of these studies are randomized, and we all know that most of these surgeons selected the easier cases for robotic procedures. For these reasons randomized controlled trials are recommended to better evaluate RDP cost-effectiveness.
authors.affiliation: Digestive Surgery and Liver Unit, S. Maria Hospital, Via Tristano di Joannuccio n.4, Terni 05100, Italy. cirocchiroberto@yahoo.it
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cirocchi
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Partelli
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coratti
authors.forename: Jacopo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Desiderio
authors.forename: Amilcare
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parisi
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falconi
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D010180:Pancreatectomy; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D012371:Robotics
keywords: Distal pandreatectomy; Robotic; Systematic review