[Robotic versus laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy: a retrospective single-center study].

Objective: To compare the short-term clinical outcomes and cost differences of robotic distal pancreatectomy (RDP) versus laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (LDP). Methods: The retrospective descriptive study was adopted.The clinical data of 158 patients underwent minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy who were admitted to Fujian Medical University Union Hospital between January 2016 and July 2018 were collected.A 1∶1 matched propensity score (PSM) analysis was performed for the RDP group and the LDP group.Observed indexes included operative time, blood loss, spleen-preserving rate, postoperative hospital stay, morbidity, incidence of pancreatic fistula and hospital costs. T test or rank sum test was used to compare measurement data, χ(2) test or Fisher exact test was used to compare count data. Results: A well-balanced cohort of 41 patients was analyzed.There were 14 males and 27 females in the RDP group, aged (45.2±16.4)years. There were 15 males and 26 females in the LDP group, aged (47.4±14.9) years.The operation time was (209.7±52.9) minutes for the RDP group and (186.5±56.7) minutes for the LDP group ( P= 0.073). Median blood loss was less in RDP (50(15-175)ml) compared with LDP (100(50-350)ml) ( Z= -2.689, P= 0.007). Thirty-eight cases of non-malignant diseases were observed in each group and spleen-preserving rate was higher in RDP (76.3%) compared to LDP(44.7%) (χ(2)=7.930, P= 0.005).Postoperative hospital stay was similar in the RDP group and the LDP group (RDP: 9.4 days vs . LDP: 10.6 days; P= 0.372). The overall morbidity and incidence of pancreatic fistula major complication rates (RDP: 12.2% vs . LDP: 14.6%, P= 0.746; RDP: 7.3% vs . LDP: 9.8%, P= 1.000) were similar.Total cost of RDP group was higher than that of LDP group ((80 563.7±10 641.8) yuan vs . (57 792.8±8 943.0) yuan, t= 4.515, P< 0.01). Conclusions: Both RDP and LDP are safe and feasible procedures. RDP is more expensive, but RDP is associated with significantly less blood loss and higher spleen-preserving rate, which is more suitable for the non-malignant diseases of pancreatic body and tail with an expectation of splenic preservation.