Robotic Partial Hepatectomy for Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases

Recent systematic review and meta-analyses showed laparoscopic hepatectomy for colorectal liver metastases is a beneficial alternative to open hepatectomy in selected patients, and it provides more favorable short-term outcomes such as less blood loss, lower blood transfusion rate, less overall morbidity, and shorter hospital stay. The introduction of robotic system may lower the hurdle for entry for practice into minimally invasive hepatectomy. The robotic surgical system is a sophisticated robotic platform designed to enable complex surgery in a minimally invasive approach. Well-known advantages of the robotic system included improved vision via 3-dimensional view, magnification, tremor suppression, and the dexterity of the instruments. Due to the current limited evidence, the oncological outcomes of robotic approach for colorectal liver metastasis are still unclear. Controlled trials are needed to compare the long-term oncological results after robot-assisted laparoscopic hepatectomy with those of open surgery or laparoscopic surgery.