Robotic versus laparoscopic surgery for choledochal cyst in children with aberrant hepatic ducts: A retrospective study

Background: The aim of this current study was to compare the safety and effectiveness between robotic and laparoscopic surgery in pediatric patients suffered from choledochal cysts associated with aberrant hepatic duct.Methods: Patients suffered from choledochal cysts associated with aberrant hepatic duct who were treated with laparoscopic or robotic procedures between January 2009 and June 2022 were retrospec-tively analyzed. The patients were divided into laparoscopic and robotic group according to different surgical methods. The data collected included the demographic information, imaging information, operative details and postoperative complications.Results: Twenty-two patients were included in the analysis consisting of 14 cases in laparoscopic group and 8 cases in robotic group. The male to female ratio was 1:6.33. The median age of the patients was 40.00 months with a mean weight of 16.99 kg. There were no significant differences in patient char-acteristics between the two groups. The operation and anesthesia time were significantly longer in the laparoscopic procedures group (238.14 +/- 17.24 min, 265.93 +/- 19.51 min, respectively) than robotic procedures group (208.00 +/- 9.24 min, 230.13 +/- 12.87 min, respectively) (p < 0.001). The time to take water and hospital stay were longer in laparoscopic group (3.33 +/- 0.44 days, 8.92 +/- 0.52 days, respec-tively) than robotic group (3.01 +/- 0.22 days, 7.88 +/- 1.13 days, respectively) (p < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in total complications between the two groups (p 1/4 0.912).Conclusions: Robotic surgery can achieve the same results as laparoscopic surgery in the management of patients suffered from choledochal cysts associated with aberrant hepatic duct, at the same time reducing the difficulty of operation and recovering faster.

Automated summary

This study compared the safety and effectiveness of robotic and laparoscopic surgery in treating pediatric patients with choledochal cysts associated with aberrant hepatic duct. It found that robotic surgery can achieve the same results as laparoscopic surgery while reducing the surgical difficulty and promoting faster recovery.