• Hong-Bin Liu, Wen-Jie Wang, Hong-Tao Li, Xiao-Peng Han, Lin Su, Deng-Wen Wei, Ting-Bao Cao, Jian-Ping Yu, and Zuo-Yi Jiao.
• Second Clinical Medical College, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, PR China; Department of General Surgery, Lanzhou General Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Lanzhou, Gansu, PR China. Electronic address: liuhongbin999@163.com.
• Int J Surg. 2018 Jul 1; 55: 15-23.

BackgroundRobot-assisted gastrectomy (RAG), as an alternative minimally invasive surgical technique, is gradually being used for the treatment of gastric cancer (GC). This study aimed to assess the feasibility and safety of RAG over conventional Laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy (LAG) for the treatment of GC.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed all procedures (RAG and LAG) performed by one surgeon between 31 January 2017 and 1 December 2017. The short-term of surgical outcomes were compared between two groups and further subgroup analyses were performed.ResultsOne hundred patients were enrolled in the RAG group and 135 in the LAG group. The demograghics and clinicopathologic characteristics are well matched between two groups. The RAG group had shorter postoperative hospital stay (11 (interquartile range 9-13) vs. 12 (10-14) day; p < 0.0001), earlier day of first flatus (2 (2-3) vs. 3 (2.3-3) day; p < 0.0001), and larger lymph nodes dissection (40.9 ± 13.1 vs. 35.4 ± 15.8; p = 0.004). Of interest, mean numbers of retrieved lymph nodes from station 6 (p = 0.002), 7 (p = 0.032), 10 (p = 0.025), 11p (p = 0.036), and 14v (p = 0.038) in RAG was significantly larger than LAG. However, no significant differences between two groups were observed in operative time (p = 0.136), operative blood loss (p = 0.434), days of eating liquid diet (p = 0.889), and postoperative complications (p = 0.752). In subgroup analyses, the similar results were observed.ConclusionsRAG for the treatment of GC is a safe and feasible procedure and beneficial for postoperative recovery of GC patients. However, further studies are needed to evaluate long-term and oncologic outcomes of RAG.Copyright © 2018 IJS Publishing Group Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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