Minimally invasive versus open pancreatic surgery: meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

Pfister M, Probst P, Muller PC, Antony P, Klotz R, Kalkum E et al. 

BJS Open 2023; 7: zrad007.

This study included 984 patients from six RCTs. Minimally invasive surgery reduced blood loss, surgical site infection (odds ratio 0.4, 95 per cent confidence interval 0.1 to 0.96, P=0.04) and hospital stay by 1.3 days (-2 to -0.5, P=0.001). On average the surgery took 75 minutes longer, P<0.001.

Comment: this is a common result for laparoscopic versus open surgery studies, but a definitive comparison includes late outcomes in cancer cases, and costs (see also Sattari et al).