Establishing a robot-assisted liver surgery program

Background and Objectives: Robot-assisted procedures represent a significant advancement in minimally invasive liver resection techniques. Nonetheless, the introduction of a novel surgical technique in a new environment necessitates meticulous planning and a gradual, stepwise approach. This study describes the adoption of a robotic surgical platform for liver resection at a high-volume tertiary care center. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data that had been prospectively collected from fifty robot-assisted liver resections. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means/medians, and standard deviations, were employed for description and summary. Results: The median operative duration was 166 min (range: 85–400 min), with an average intraoperative blood loss of 200 mL (range: 50–1000 milliliters). Intraoperative or postoperative blood transfusion was required in 8% of patients. Conversion to open resection was necessary in one patient (2%). The mean duration of hospitalization was 5 days (range: 3–20 days), with a 30-day readmission rate of 6% and no mortality within 90 days. Postoperative complications classified as Clavien-Dindo grade 3 or higher were observed in five patients (10%). The mean tumor size varied according to pathology: 58.5 mm (range: 30–120 mm) in the hepatocellular carcinoma group