The purpose of the meta-analysis was to assess the safety and efficacy of robotic surgery for pancreatic cancer patients, compared with laparoscopic pancreatectomy.

PubMed, Wanfang, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) were used for literature retrieval. Studies on comparison of robotic and laparoscopic pancreatectomy for pancreatic cancer were collected in the present study. The qualities of the included articles were evaluated by Cochrane assessment tool. Stata 12.0 software was applied to the present meta-analysis.

8 studies with 682 patients were included in this meta-analysis. 292 patients received robotic treatment, while 390 patients were treated with laparoscopic approach. Meta-analysis indicated that robotic surgery could significantly improve blood loss during the operation (SMD=-0.670, 95%CI=-1.012--0.329), the frequency of blood transfusion (RR=0.457, 95%CI=0.245-0.854), conversion into open surgery (RR=0.612, 95%CI=0.348-0.974), and the rate of spleen preservation (RR=2.331, 95%CI=1.599-3.398). In addition, postoperative hospital stay (SMD=-0.230, 95%CI=-0.433--0.027), occurrence of complications (RR=0.643, 95%CI=0.451-0.917), and reoperation rate (RR=0.766, 95%CI=0.258-2.268) were significantly lower in robotic treatment group than that in the laparoscopic approach group. However, the pancreatic fistula and operative time were similar between the two groups.

Compared with laparoscopic approach, robotic pancreatectomy is safe and effective for patients with pancreatic cancer, which can be widely used in clinical practices.