Hospital costs of robotic-assisted and open treatment of large ventral hernias.

Robotic-assisted treatment of ventral hernia offers many advantages, however, studies reported higher costs for robotic surgery compared to other surgical techniques. We aimed at comparing hospital costs in patients undergoing large ventral hernia repair with either robotic or open surgery. We searched from a prospectively maintained database patients who underwent robotic or open surgery for the treatment of the large ventral hernias from January 2016 to December 2022. The primary endpoint was to assess costs in both groups. For eligible patients, data was extracted and analyzed using a propensity score-matching. Sixty-seven patients were retrieved from our database. Thirty-four underwent robotic-assisted surgery and 33 open surgery. Mean age was 66.4 ± 4.1 years, 50% of patients were male. After a propensity score-matching, a similar total cost of EUR 18,297 ± 8,435 vs. 18,024 ± 7514 (p = 0.913) in robotic-assisted and open surgery groups was noted. Direct and indirect costs were similar in both groups. Robotic surgery showed higher operatory theatre-related costs (EUR 7532 ± 2,091 vs. 3351 ± 1872, p < 0.001), which were compensated by shorter hospital stay-related costs (EUR 4265 ± 4366 vs. 7373 ± 4698, p = 0.032). In the treatment of large ventral hernia, robotic surgery had higher operatory theatre-related costs, however, they were fully compensated by shorter hospital stays and resulting in similar total costs.

Safety and feasibility of emergency robot-assisted transabdominal preperitoneal repair for the treatment of incarcerated inguinal hernia: A retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Few studies assessed robotic in emergency setting and no solid evidence was demonstrated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of robot-assisted transabdominal preperitoneal (R-TAPP) repair for the treatment of incarcerated inguinal hernia. METHODS: We retrospectively searched from a prospectively maintained database patients who underwent R-TAPP or open surgery for incarcerated inguinal hernias from January 2018 to March 2023. The primary endpoint was to assess safety and feasibility of the R-TAPP compared to the standard approach. For eligible patients, data was extracted and analyzed using a propensity score-matching (PSM). RESULTS: Thirty-four patients were retrieved from our database, 15 underwent R-TAPP, while 19 underwent open surgery. Mean age was 73.1 ± 14.6 years, 30 patients (88.2%) were male and mean BMI was 23.5 ± 3.2 kg/m2. No intraoperative complication occurred. Three cases requiring small bowel resection were all in the open surgery group (p = 0.112). The operative time was 108 ± 31 min versus 112 ± 31 min in the R-TAPP and open surgery groups (p = 0.716). Seven postoperative complications occurred, only one classified as severe was in the open surgery group. The length of hospital stay was 2.9 ± 1.8 in the R-TAPP versus 4.2 ± 2.3 min in the open surgery group (p = 0.077). PSM analysis showed similar postoperative outcomes and costs in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Despite its limitations, our study appears to endorse the safety and feasibility of the robotic-assisted treatment for incarcerated inguinal hernia. This approach yielded comparable results to open surgery, albeit in a limited number of patients, suggesting it might be a viable alternative.