Is Robotic-Assisted Surgery Better?

The surgical platform for robotic-assisted surgery has enabled many surgeons to join a popular trend in minimally invasive surgery, which offers prospective benefits to patients (eg, shorter hospital stays, earlier recovery, and less pain) and operational benefits to surgeons.Surgeons without minimally invasive surgical training typically acquired during fellowship training are generally able to perform complex procedures with the robotic platform due to its ergonomic suturing instrumentation, tremor stabilization, 3D visualization, and 4-arm control by a single surgeon.Prospective benefits, however, must be balanced against prospective risks.This article explores the multitude of factors that persuade both surgeons and patients to choose robotic surgery over open surgery or conventional laparoscopy and explores whether evidence exists to support its use despite sometimes conflicting research. History of Minimally Invasive SurgeryMinimally invasive surgery (MIS) has come a long way in the more than 120 years since gynecologist Dimitri Ott examined the peritoneal cavity of a woman in 1901 with a head mirror and a speculum through a culdoscopic opening. 1,2Almost 85 years later, in 1985, Erich Mühe performed the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Germany. 2,3The change to the surgical field that laparoscopy brought about has been one of the most revolutionary in the history of surgery.Prior to the 1990s, the surgical dogma was "the bigger the cut, the better the surgeon."This attitude began to change with the shift to not only less invasive surgery but also surgical practices that were driven by popular patient demand. 4It was estimated that, by 1992, about 80% of cholecystectomies were being performed laparoscopically, 5 and laparoscopic cholecystectomy has since become the gold standard of care for patients worldwide suffering from biliary colic.The explosion of interest in this novel technique was driven by patient demand for surgeries whose incisions could be covered with mere band-aids at the completion of the case.Patients wanted smaller scars, less pain, and less recovery time.A further evolution of MIS came through the development of remote robotic telesurgery for use in battlefields and since adopted for use in many surgical specialties. 6Over the years, this advancement has been proven to produce-at the very least-technical outcomes not inferior to those afforded by comparable laparoscopic procedures and, in