Journal Article

The severity of postoperative complications after robotic versus laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer: A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression

Liu, Yanfei, Wang, Yanlei, Yi, Bo, Zhu, Shaihong, Han, Gaoyang

2020

Overview

Robotic surgery (RS) has been increasingly used for the resection of rectal cancer, and its advantages over laparoscopic surgery (LS) have been demonstrated. However, few studies focused on the severity of postoperative complications. This study aimed to compared the postoperative complications within 30 days after RS over LS according to the Clavien-Dindo (C-D) classification. A literature research of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and Web of Science were systematically performed. The studies comparing the complications of RS and LS for rectal cancer based on the C-D classification were enrolled. Primary outcomes were C-D grade III, IV, V, III-V (severe complications). Seventeen studies (3193 patients) were included in the final analysis: 1554 underwent RS and 1639 underwent LS. The RS group was associated with significantly lower rates of severe complications (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.53-0.90, P = 0.005), C-D grade IV (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.53-0.90, P = 0.005), and anastomotic leak (OR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.48-0.91, P = 0.01). There was no significant difference in C-D grade III, C-D grade I, II, I-II (minor complications), overall complications, bleeding, wound complications, postoperative ileus, urinary retention, readmission, reoperation between two groups. Robotic surgery is safe for rectal cancer and may be an effective alternative to laparoscopic surgery, with lower rates of severe complications, C-D grade IV, and anastomotic leak. Further large randomized controlled trials are necessary to confirm this conclusion.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Anastomotic leak / Bias / Bleeding / Cancer / Care and treatment / Classification / Clinical trials / Colorectal cancer / Comparative analysis / Complications / Complications and side effects / Diagnosis / Engineering and Technology / Laparoscopy / Medicine and Health Sciences / Meta-analysis / Patients / Physical Sciences / Postoperative complications / Rectum / Regression analysis / Research and Analysis Methods / Robotic surgery / Software / Surgery / Thoracic surgery