REVIEW  APPLICATIONS OF ROBOTICS IN GENERAL SURGERY 

Minerva Surgery 2021 April;76(2):105-15

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-5691.21.08495-9

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Robotic liver surgery: literature review and future perspectives

Alberto MANGANO ✉, Valentina VALLE, Mario A. MASRUR, Roberto E. BUSTOS, Stephan GRUESSNER, Pier C. GIULIANOTTI

Division of General, Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

INTRODUCTION: Minimally invasive liver resections (MILR) have been gaining popularity over the last decades. MILR provides superior peri-operative outcome. Despite these advantages, the penetrance of MILR in the clinical setting has been limited, and it was slowed down, among other factors, also by the laparoscopic technological limitations.
EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A literature review has been carried out (Pubmed, Embase and Scopus platforms) focusing on the role of robotic surgery in MILR.
EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: The literature review results are presented and our additional remarks on the topic are discussed.
CONCLUSIONS: Robotic MILR has been helping to expand the penetrance of MIS in liver surgery by making possible increasingly more challenging procedures. Minor resections still represent most of the robotic liver surgery data currently available. Robotic liver surgery is safe and effective, and it shows perioperative outcomes comparable with laparoscopic and open surgery. The oncological efficacy, within the limitations of the current level of evidence (mostly retrospective studies and literature heterogeneity), seems to show promising result. High quality prospective randomized studies, the use of prospective registry data, and multi-institutional efforts are needed.

KEY WORDS: Hepatectomy; Minimally invasive surgical procedures; Robotic surgical procedures