Robot-assisted Procedures in General Surgery: Cholecystectomy, Inguinal and Ventral Hernia Repairs
(World News Science)

The report is a product of the VA/HSR&D Evidence Synthesis Program. Robot-assisted Procedures in General Surgery: Cholecystectomy, Inguinal and Ventral Hernia Repairs General surgery procedures make up a large volume of operations performed in the US. For example, there are approximately 1 million cholecystectomies and 800,000 ventral and inguinal hernia cases performed each year. Within this field, there has been dramatic recent growth in the number of robot-assisted cases. Questions about the utility of robot-assisted surgery as compared to laparoscopic and open surgery persist. In particular, does the use of the robot-assisted approach translate to better or similar clinical outcomes for...