A systematic review on the application of the hybrid operating room in surgery: experiences and challenges

The hybrid operating room has been widely applied in different surgery sub-specialties. We aim to identify the advantages of hybrid operating rooms by focusing on intraoperative imaging and explore what to do for further improving its application. We searched related literature in websites including Pubmed, MEDLINE, Web of science, using the keywords ("hybrid operating room" or "integrated operating room" or "multifunctional operating room") and ("surgery" or "technique" or "intervention" or "radiology"). All the searched papers were screened and underwent quality evaluation. A total of 30 literature was eventually identified after full-text screening. These articles covered 10 countries and presented data for 15,558 individuals. The median sample size was 536 (range 8-12,804). Application of the hybrid operating room in general surgery, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, urology, gynaecologic and obstetrics surgery, cardiovascular surgery, was summarized. Four different operative indicators were applied (operative duration, mortality rate, operation success rate and complication rate). A hybrid OR could significantly increase the operation success rate and reduce operative duration, mortality rates, and complication rates. Further efforts could be made to reduce radiation exposure in the hybrid operating room and increase its cost-effectiveness ratio.