Short-term outcomes of robotic versus open pancreaticoduodenectomy in elderly patients: A multicenter retrospective cohort study

With the advances in surgical techniques and perioperative management, the surgical indications for pancreaticoduodenectomy have been extended to elderly patients. Whether robotic pancreaticoduodenectomy (RPD) is superior to open pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD) in older patients remains uncertain. Thus, this study aimed to compare perioperative outcomes between RPD and OPD in elderly patients. The demographics and perioperative outcomes of a consecutive series of elderly patients (aged ≥75 years) who underwent RPD or OPD at seven pancreatic centers in China between July 2011 and July 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Of the 302 patients included in this study, 169 underwent RPD and 133 underwent OPD. The RPD group had a shorter operative time (OT) (264.3 vs. 278.2 min, P = 0.01) and less estimated blood loss (EBL) (100 (50 150) vs. 200 (150 300) mL, P