SynthesisSurgical endoscopy2016
Robotic surgery: disruptive innovation or unfulfilled promise? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the first 30 years.
Synthesis in Surgical endoscopy, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 7 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
53 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 111 citations in OpenAlex.
- Robot-assisted versus open kidney transplantation: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.Journal of robotic surgery · 2026Pooled it
- The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome in patients with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Volume-outcome relationship in intra-abdominal robotic-assisted surgery: a systematic review.Journal of robotic surgery · 2023Pooled it
- Robotic operations in urgent general surgery: a systematic review.Journal of robotic surgery · 2023Pooled it
- The Impact of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Upper-Limb Motor Performance in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- Does Body Contouring After Bariatric Weight Loss Enhance Quality of Life? A Systematic Review of QOL Studies.Obesity surgery · 2018Pooled it
- Systematic review of robotic low anterior resection for rectal cancer.Surgical endoscopy · 2018Pooled it
- Home practice for robotic surgery: a randomized controlled trial of a low-cost simulation model.Journal of robotic surgery · 2023Trial
- Robotic-assisted cholecystectomy is superior to laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the initial training for surgical novices in an ex vivo porcine model: a randomized crossover study.Surgical endoscopy · 2022Trial
- Global research landscape and trends in robot-assisted unicompartmental knee arthroplasty: a bibliometric analysis.Journal of robotic surgery · 2026Review
- Learning adaptation experiences of circulating nurses in robot-assisted femoral neck fracture surgery from a learning-curve perspective: a qualitative study.Journal of robotic surgery · 2026Article
- RERAS: does age define recovery? The role of patient characteristics and ERAS protocols in robotic colorectal surgery.Journal of robotic surgery · 2026Article
- Safety and short-term outcomes of robotic surgery for colorectal cancer in the very elderly (≥ 85 Years): a multicenter propensity score-matched study.Surgery today · 2026Article
- Article
- White paper on effective preacquisition evaluation of soft tissue robotic surgery platforms for healthcare institutions.Surgical endoscopy · 2026Article
- Shaping the future of surgery: A scoping review of current robotic practices in KSA.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · 2026Review
- Understanding surgeon adoption of artificial intelligence surgical technology: integrating UTAUT-TOE model.Journal of robotic surgery · 2026Article
- Robotic right colectomy is associated with reduced conversion to open surgery in patients with obesity.Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract · 2025Article
- Comparative outcomes of robotic surgeryWorld journal of cardiology · 2025Article
- Understanding and acceptance of open, laparoscopic, and robotic surgery among nursing students: implications for educational curricula based on a mixed-methods study.Journal of robotic surgery · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRobotic surgery has been in existence for 30 years. This study aimed to evaluate the overall perioperative outcomes of robotic surgery compared with open surgery (OS) and conventional minimally invasive surgery (MIS) across various surgical procedures.
methodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched from 1990 up to October 2013 with no language restriction. Relevant review articles were hand-searched for remaining studies. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective comparative studies (PROs) on perioperative outcomes, regardless of patient age and sex, were included. Primary outcomes were blood loss, blood transfusion rate, operative time, length of hospital stay, and 30-day overall complication rate.
resultsWe identified 99 relevant articles (108 studies, 14,448 patients). For robotic versus OS, 50 studies (11 RCTs, 39 PROs) demonstrated reduction in blood loss [ratio of means (RoM) 0.505, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.408-0.602], transfusion rate [risk ratio (RR) 0.272, 95 % CI 0.165-0.449], length of hospital stay (RoM 0.695, 0.615-0.774), and 30-day overall complication rate (RR 0.637, 0.483-0.838) in favour of robotic surgery. For robotic versus MIS, 58 studies (21 RCTs, 37 PROs) demonstrated reduced blood loss (RoM 0.853, 0.736-0.969) and transfusion rate (RR 0.621, 0.390-0.988) in favour of robotic surgery but similar length of hospital stay (RoM 0.982, 0.936-1.027) and 30-day overall complication rate (RR 0.988, 0.822-1.188). In both comparisons, robotic surgery prolonged operative time (OS: RoM 1.073, 1.022-1.124; MIS: RoM 1.135, 1.096-1.173). The benefits of robotic surgery lacked robustness on RCT-sensitivity analyses. However, many studies, including the relatively few available RCTs, suffered from high risk of bias and inadequate statistical power.
conclusionsOur results showed that robotic surgery contributed positively to some perioperative outcomes but longer operative times remained a shortcoming. Better quality evidence is needed to guide surgical decision making regarding the precise clinical targets of this innovation in the next generation of its use.
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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.