Minimally invasive cholecystectomy and common bile duct exploration offers single-stage management for complex gallstone disease (cholelithiasis and choledocholithiasis). The Robotic platform presents benefits in improving operative precision, which has not been extensively evaluated in the acute setting of managing complex gallstone disease, as well as in performing transcholedochal or postcholecystectomy common bile duct exploration. The authors report an early series of emergent and expedited robotic-assisted cholecystectomy with common bile duct exploration (RC-CBDE) or robotic common bile duct exploration (R-CBDE) alone.

A retrospective analysis from a specialist unit in the United Kingdom was undertaken from April 2022 to September 2023, inclusive. All patients who underwent RC-CBDE or R-CBDE were included. Data was collated on patient demographics, perioperative investigations, intraoperative approach, and postoperative outcomes.

Twenty-three consecutive patients were identified. The median (IQR) age was 51 (33-66) years. Median (IQR) Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was 1 (0-4). Five patients underwent operative intervention as an emergency and 18 on an expedited basis. Two patients underwent postcholecystectomy R-CBDE. Fourteen (61%) were transcholedochal and nine were transcystic (39%) CBDE. Median (IQR) bilirubin was 51 (34-253). Median (IQR) operative time was 176 (124-222) minutes. Median (IQR) postoperative length of stay was 2 (0-4) days. There were no bile leaks requiring intervention. The clearance rate of CBDS was 100%. No patients developed postoperative pancreatitis. One patient required intervention for port site hernia following RC-CBDE. One patient developed subhepatic collection postoperatively and required laparoscopic washout and placement of drains. No patients had retained stones after a 3-month follow-up.

Early experience confirms that RC-CBDE and R-CBDE in feasible, safe, and effective treatment for complex gallstone disease. Integrated adjuncts (intraoperative robotic ultrasound - IORUS and Firefly - fluorescence guided surgery - FGS) and superior ergonomics of the robotic platform may assist in reducing the learning curve and increase wider uptake of this complex procedure.

Consensus guidelines recommend patients with symptomatic cholelithiasis and suspected choledocholithiasis have common bile duct exploration (CBDE) at the time of cholecystectomy to prevent downstream problems. Despite superiority of single-stage cholecystectomy with CBDE, 2-stage precholecystectomy/postcholecystectomy with endoscopic clearance of the duct is commonly practiced. This is related to inadequate training in minimally invasive techniques, lack of technical support for efficient and safe CBDE, and surgeons' inexperience with complex biliary pathologic condition. This article provides a framework for evaluating and treating patients with CBD pathologic condition with an emphasis on technical aspects of CBDE and preoperative planning and preparation.

Haptic information in robotic surgery can significantly improve clinical outcomes and help detect hard soft-tissue inclusions that indicate potential abnormalities. Visual representation of tissue stiffness information is a cost-effective technique. Meanwhile, direct force feedback, although considerably more expensive than visual representation, is an intuitive method of conveying information regarding tissue stiffness to surgeons. In this study, real-time visual stiffness feedback by sliding indentation palpation is proposed, validated, and compared with force feedback involving human subjects. In an experimental tele-manipulation environment, a dynamically updated color map depicting the stiffness of probed soft tissue is presented via a graphical interface. The force feedback is provided, aided by a master haptic device. The haptic device uses data acquired from an F/T sensor attached to the end-effector of a tele-manipulated robot. Hard nodule detection performance is evaluated for 2 modes (force feedback and visual stiffness feedback) of stiffness feedback on an artificial organ containing buried stiff nodules. From this artificial organ, a virtual-environment tissue model is generated based on sliding indentation measurements. Employing this virtual-environment tissue model, we compare the performance of human participants in distinguishing differently sized hard nodules by force feedback and visual stiffness feedback. Results indicate that the proposed distributed visual representation of tissue stiffness can be used effectively for hard nodule identification. The representation can also be used as a sufficient substitute for force feedback in tissue palpation.

Hepatobiliary (HB) surgery is a challenging surgical subspecialty that requires highly specialized training and an adequate level of experience in order to be performed safely. As a result, minimally invasive HB surgery has been met with slower acceptance as compared to other subspecialties, with many surgeons in the field still reluctant to adopt the approach. Recently development of the robotic platform has provided a tool that can overcome many of the limitations of conventional laparoscopic HB surgery. Augmented dexterity enabled by the endowristed movements, software filtration of the surgeon's movements, and high-definition three-dimensional vision provided by the stereoscopic camera combine to allow steady and careful dissection of the liver hilum structures, as well as prompt and precise endosuturing in cases of intraoperative bleeding. These advantages have fostered many centers to widen the indications for minimally invasive HB and gastric surgery, with encouraging initial results. As one of the surgical groups that has performed the largest number of robot-assisted procedures worldwide, we provide a review of the state of the art in minimally invasive robot-assisted HB surgery.

Following an extensive literature search and a consensus conference with subject matter experts the following conclusions can be drawn: 1. Robotic surgery is still at its infancy, and there is a great potential in sophisticated electromechanical systems to perform complex surgical tasks when these systems evolve. 2. To date, in the vast majority of clinical settings, there is little or no advantage in using robotic systems in general surgery in terms of clinical outcome. Dedicated parameters should be addressed, and high quality research should focus on quality of care instead of routine parameters, where a clear advantage is not to be expected. 3. Preliminary data demonstrates that robotic system have a clinical benefit in performing complex procedures in confined spaces, especially in those that are located in unfavorable anatomical locations. 4. There is a severe lack of high quality data on robotic surgery, and there is a great need for rigorously controlled, unbiased clinical trials. These trials should be urged to address the cost-effectiveness issues as well. 5. Specific areas of research should include complex hepatobiliary surgery, surgery for gastric and esophageal cancer, revisional surgery in bariatric and upper GI surgery, surgery for large adrenal masses, and rectal surgery. All these fields show some potential for a true benefit of using current robotic systems. 6. Robotic surgery requires a specific set of skills, and needs to be trained using a dedicated, structured training program that addresses the specific knowledge, safety issues and skills essential to perform this type of surgery safely and with good outcomes. It is the responsibility of the corresponding professional organizations, not the industry, to define the training and credentialing of robotic basic skills and specific procedures. 7. Due to the special economic environment in which robotic surgery is currently employed special care should be taken in the decision making process when deciding on the purchase, use and training of robotic systems in general surgery. 8. Professional organizations in the sub-specialties of general surgery should review these statements and issue detailed, specialty-specific guidelines on the use of specific robotic surgery procedures in addition to outlining the advanced robotic surgery training required to safely perform such procedures.

Biliary lithiasis is an endemic condition in both Western and Eastern countries, in some studies affecting 20% of the general population. In up to 20% of cases, gallbladder stones are associated with common bile duct stones (CBDS), which are asymptomatic in up to one half of cases. Despite the wide variety of examinations and techniques available nowadays, two main open issues remain without a clear answer: how to cost-effectively diagnose CBDS and, when they are finally found, how to deal with them. CBDS diagnosis and management has radically changed over the last 30 years, following the dramatic diffusion of imaging, including endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and magnetic resonance cholangiography (MRC), endoscopy and laparoscopy. Since accuracy, invasiveness, potential therapeutic use and cost-effectiveness of imaging techniques used to identify CBDS increase together in a parallel way, the concept of "risk of carrying CBDS" has become pivotal to identifying the most appropriate management of a specific patient in order to avoid the risk of "under-studying" by poor diagnostic work up or "over-studying" by excessively invasive examinations. The risk of carrying CBDS is deduced by symptoms, liver/pancreas serology and ultrasound. "Low risk" patients do not require further examination before laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Two main "philosophical approaches" face each other for patients with an "intermediate to high risk" of carrying CBDS: on one hand, the "laparoscopy-first" approach, which mainly relies on intraoperative cholangiography for diagnosis and laparoscopic common bile duct exploration for treatment, and, on the other hand, the "endoscopy-first" attitude, variously referring to MRC, EUS and/or endoscopic retrograde cholangiography for diagnosis and endoscopic sphincterotomy for management. Concerning CBDS diagnosis, intraoperative cholangiography, EUS and MRC are reported to have similar results. Regarding management, the recent literature seems to show better short and long term outcome of surgery in terms of retained stones and need for further procedures. Nevertheless, open surgery is invasive, whereas the laparoscopic common bile duct clearance is time consuming, technically demanding and involves dedicated instruments. Thus, although no consensus has been achieved and CBDS management seems more conditioned by the availability of instrumentation, personnel and skills than cost-effectiveness, endoscopic treatment is largely preferred worldwide.

Hepatobiliary surgery is a challenging surgical subspecialty that requires highly specialized training and an adequate level of experience in order to be performed safely. As a result, minimally invasive hepatobiliary surgery has been met with slower acceptance as compared to other subspecialties, with many surgeons in the field still reluctant about the approach. On the other hand, gastric surgery is a very popular field of surgery with an extensive amount of literature especially regarding open and laparoscopic surgery but not much about the robotic approach especially for oncological disease. Recent development of the robotic platform has provided a tool able to overcome many of the limitations of conventional laparoscopic hepatobiliary surgery. Augmented dexterity enabled by the endowristed movements, software filtration of the surgeon's movements, and high-definition three-dimensional vision provided by the stereoscopic camera, allow for steady and careful dissection of the liver hilum structures, as well as prompt and precise endosuturing in cases of intraoperative bleeding. These advantages have fostered many centers to widen the indications for minimally invasive hepatobiliary and gastric surgery, with encouraging initial results. As one of the surgical groups that has performed the largest number of robot-assisted procedures worldwide, we provide a review of the state of the art in minimally invasive robot-assisted hepatobiliary and gastric surgery.The English full-text version of this article is available at SpringerLink (under supplemental).

Laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) has become one of the main options for treating choledocholithiasis associated with cholelithiasis. Our objective was to assess the short-term outcomes of patients undergoing laparoscopic primary closure of the common bile duct (CBD) compared with laparoscopic choledochotomy plus T-tube drainage.

We retrospectively studied 137 patients undergoing primary closure following LCBDE (group A) compared with 102 cases with laparoscopic choledochotomy plus T-tube drainage (group B) between January 2007 and January 2010. Intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) and choledochoscopy were performed in all patients.

Three patients in group A (2.2%) were converted to open surgery and two (2.0%) in group B because of serious adherence. According to routine IOC, unexpected CBD stones were found in 16 cases (6.8%). The duration of the operation in group A was shorter than in group B (92.4 ± 15.2 vs. 125.7± 32.6 min, P < 0.05), as was length of postoperative stay (3.1± 2.4 vs. 5.7± 4.3 days, P < 0.05). Postoperative bile leakage occurred in six patients (4.5%) in group A and four cases (4.0%) in group B; all of the patients recovered after simple drainage without reoperation. Bile peritonitis was seen in one case after T-tube removal. The median follow-up was 26 months. There were no recurrences.

Laparoscopic primary closure of the CBD is safe and successful for the management of CBD stones. Application of IOC and choledochoscopy to ensure clearance of the CBD and careful suturing are essential for primary closure.