Systematic Review of Robotic-Assisted Peripheral and Central Lymphatic Surgery.

BACKGROUND

Robotic-assisted lymphatic reconstruction has gained increasing interest over the past few years.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to systematically investigate the benefits of robotic-assisted lymphatic surgery based on currently published literature.

METHODS

A systematic review evaluating the feasibility, surgical aspects, and both objective and subjective improvements in patients with impairment of the peripheral or central lymphatic system was performed according to the PRISMA guidelines. The review was registered on PROSPERO.

RESULTS

The literature search yielded 328 articles after the removal of duplicates, followed by a full-text review of the 29 articles, out of which a total of 11 relevant articles were deemed eligible. Among these, seven used a retrospective design and four a prospective design. All studies included confirmed the feasibility of robotic-assisted lymphatic surgery and reported promising results concerning both technical aspects and patient-related outcomes. However, currently, only a limited number of studies directly compare the robotic-assisted approach to the manual approach, and these studies have limited statistical analyses.

CONCLUSION

Despite the heterogeneous measurands, all studies showed the feasibility of robotic-assisted lymphatic surgery, and seven provided promising data on patient-related outcomes. Additional studies are needed to further identify future directions in robotic-assisted lymphatic surgery.