Robotic surgery for chronic pancreatitis – an update

Robotic surgery has been introduced in all fields of general surgery including pancreatic resections in the last decade. While there is growing evidence that this type of minimally-invasive surgery can be used safely for standard procedures including distal pancreatectomy as well as pancreatico-duodenectomy, there is little data on the use of robotic approaches in the indication of chronic pancreatitis (CP) and it’s specific drainage or resection procedures such as lateral pancreatico-jejunostomy or duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection as these procedures may be challenging – especially due to the inflammatory changes. Therefore, patients suffering from CP are rarely chosen for robotic procedures although it may offer similar advantages in this specific patient collective as in other indications. This update gives an overview on the current status of robotics in CP surgery with a focus on proper patient selection, technical topics as well as the standards in the authors’ institution and reviews the available literature.