A first exploration of the economic consequences of an autonomous surgical robot for lateral skull base surgery: an early health technology assessment.

OBJECTIVES: Lateral skull base procedures, such as translabyrinthine approach (TLA), are challenging. An autonomous surgical robot might be a solution to these challenges. Our aim is to explore in an early phase the economic consequences of an autonomous surgical robot compared with conventional TLA. METHODS: An early decision analytic model was constructed in order to perform a step-wise threshold analyses and a sensitivity analysis to analyze the impact of the several factors on the incremental costs. RESULTS: Using surgical robot results in incremental costs - EUR 5,562 per procedure - compared to conventional TLA. These costs are most reduced by higher number of procedures, followed by lower price of the robot, saved operation time, and reduced risk of complication, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The incremental costs of using an autonomous surgical robot can be decreased by choosing applications with a high turnover rate, a long operation time, and a high complication rate.