SynthesisJournal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract2015
Robotic versus laparoscopic total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer: a meta-analysis of eight studies.
Synthesis in Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
82 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Resection quality and oncologic outcomes after robotic versus laparoscopic total mesorectal excision for mid and low rectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials.Journal of robotic surgery · 2026Pooled it
- Japanese Society for Cancer of the Colon and Rectum (JSCCR) guidelines 2024 for the treatment of colorectal cancer.International journal of clinical oncology · 2025Guideline
- Short-term and long-term efficacy in robot-assisted treatment for mid and low rectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of colorectal disease · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of robotic versus laparoscopic total mesorectal excision in management of rectal cancer.International journal of colorectal disease · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Completeness of total mesorectum excision of laparoscopic versus robotic surgery: a review with a meta-analysis.International journal of colorectal disease · 2019Pooled it
- Systematic review of robotic low anterior resection for rectal cancer.Surgical endoscopy · 2018Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Influence of surgical start time on the quality of surgery for middle and low rectal cancer: a post hoc analysis of the real trial.International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2025Trial
- Feasibility of robotic-assisted surgery in advanced rectal cancer: a multicentre prospective phase II study (VITRUVIANO trial).BJS open · 2024Trial
- Comparative health technology assessment of robotic-assisted, direct manual laparoscopic and open surgery: a prospective study.Surgical endoscopy · 2017Trial
- Initial experience in colorectal robotic surgery in a university hospital: the first 100 consecutive cases using Hugo™ RAS platform.Techniques in coloproctology · 2026Article
- Short-term outcomes of single-port robotic surgery versus single-port laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer: a multicenter matched-cohort analysis.Surgical endoscopy · 2025Article
- Short-term clinical outcomes of open, laparoscopic, and robotic-assisted rectal resections: a multicenter real-world evidence study from Indian collaborative group on rectal resections (ICGRR).Journal of robotic surgery · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- From Diversion to Permanence: Trends in Ostomy Creation in Rectal Cancer Surgery.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Review
- Article
- Feasibility, clinical outcomes, and learning curves of robotic-assisted colorectal cancer surgery in a high-volume district general hospital: a cohort study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2024Article
22 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRobotic surgery has been used successfully in many branches of surgery, but there is little evidence in the literature on its use in rectal cancer (RC). We conducted this meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized controlled trials (NRCTs) to evaluate whether the safety and efficacy of robotic total mesorectal excision (RTME) in patients with RC are equivalent to those of laparoscopic TME (LTME).
methodsPubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Ovid, and Web of Science databases were searched. Studies clearly documenting a comparison of RTME with LTME for RC were selected. Operative and recovery outcomes, early postoperative morbidity, and oncological parameters were evaluated.
resultsEight studies were identified that included 1229 patients in total, 554 (45.08 %) in the RTME group and 675 (54.92 %) in the LTME group. Compared with LTME, RTME was associated with lower conversion rate (OR 0.23, 95 % CI [0.10, 0.52]; P = 0.0004), lower positive rate of circumferential resection margins (CRM) (2.74 % vs 5.78 %, OR 0.44, 95 % CI [0.20, 0.96], P = 0.04), and lesser incidence of erectile dysfunction (ED) (OR 0.09, 95 % CI [0.02, 0.41]; P = 0.002). Operation time, estimated blood loss, recovery outcome, postoperative morbidity and mortality, length of hospital stay, number of lymph nodes harvested, distal resection margin (DRM), proximal resection margin (PRM), and local recurrence had no significant differences between the two groups.
conclusionsRTME is safe and feasible and may be an alternative treatment for RC. More international multicenter prospective large sample RCTs investigating the long-term oncological and functional outcomes are needed to determine the advantages of RTME over LTME in RC.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.