Robotic-assisted cholecystectomy versus conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy for benign gallbladder disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the established gold standard treatment for benign gallbladder diseases. However, robotic cholecystectomy is still controversial. Therefore, we aimed to compare intraoperative and postoperative outcomes in LC and robotic-assisted cholecystectomy (RAC) in patients with nonmalignant gallbladder conditions. PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were systematically searched for studies comparing RAC to LC in patients with benign gallbladder disease. Only randomized trials and non-randomized studies with propensity score matching were included. Mean differences (MDs) were computed for continuous outcomes and odds ratios (ORs) for binary endpoints, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Heterogeneity was assessed with I² statistics. Statistical analysis was performed using Software R, version 4.2.3. A total of 13 studies comprising 22,440 patients were included, of whom 10,758 patients (47.94%) underwent RAC. The mean age was 48.5 years and 65.2% were female. Compared with LC, RAC significantly increased operative time (MD 12.59 min; 95% CI 5.62–19.55; p < 0.01; I² = 79%). However, there were no significant differences between the groups in hospitalization time (MD -0.18 days; 95% CI − 0.43–0.07; p = 0.07; I² = 89%), occurrence of intraoperative complications (OR 0.66; 95% CI 0.38–1.15; p = 0.14; I² = 35%) and bile duct injury (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.64, 1.55; p = 0.97; I² = 0%). RAC was associated with an increase in operative time compared with LC without increasing hospitalization time or the incidence of intraoperative complications. These findings suggest that RAC is a safe approach to benign gallbladder disease.