A new study using MSQC data highlights a questionable trend: robotic surgery is increasingly replacing conventional laparoscopic minimally-invasive surgery, despite a lack of evidence that it robotic surgery is more clinically effective.

The study used clinically-abstracted data MSQC data collected on 169404 patients in all MSQC hospitals from 2012-2018.

The authors showed that MSQC hospitals that launched robotic programs had an immediate increase in the use of robotic surgery across common surgical procedures, associated with a decrease in traditional laparoscopic and open approaches. The authors cited concern that robotic surgery is more costly – as much as 25% higher than laparoscopic surgery – yet may be no more clinically effective than other well-established operative approaches.

“The findings highlight a need to continually monitor the adoption of robotic surgery to ensure that enthusiasm for new technology does not outpace the evidence needed to use it in the most effective clinical contexts.”

Full study here:

Sheetz KH, Claflin J, Dimick JB. Trends in the Adoption of Robotic Surgery for Common Surgical Procedures. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(1):e1918911. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.18911

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2758472