Objective: To compare the clinical short-term safety and efficacy between robotic right colectomy (RRC) and laparoscopic right colectomy(LRC) with meta-analysis.
Methods: A search of the Medline, Embase, Ovid, CNKI and WANFANG databases was performed for studies comparing clinical or oncologic outcomes of RRC with LRC before July 2014. The RevMan 5.2 software was used for meta-analysis. The operative time, estimated blood loss, length of hospital stay, conversion rate to open surgery, postoperative complications and related outcomes were evaluated.
Results: Six studies including 217 RRC cases and 400 conventional LRC cases were enrolled and analyzed. The meta-analysis showed that RRC had longer operative time (MD=48.05, 95% CI: 26.52 to 69.57, P<0.01), less estimated blood loss (MD=-17.74, 95% CI: -28.32 to -7.16, P=0.01), faster postoperative intestinal peristalsis recovery (MD=-0.79, 95% CI: -1.10 to -0.48, P<0.01), lower postoperative overall complications (OR=0.63, 95% CI: 0.42 to 0.93, P=0.02). Conversion rate and postoperative hospital stay between the two groups were not significantly different (all P>0.05).
Conclusion: Compared to LRC, RRC is associated with less estimated blood loss, faster postoperative intestinal peristalsis recovery, lower postoperative overall complications, and longer operative time.