The learning curve for robot-assisted distal pancreatectomy: a single-center experience of 301 cases

Robotic distal pancreatectomy (RDP) has become a routine procedure in many pancreatic centers. This study aimed to describe a single-center experience with RDP since the first case, identify the learning curves of operation time and complication rate, and discuss the safety and feasibility of RDP.

We collected and retrospectively analyzed the single-center surgical experience of 301 patients undergoing RDP at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) between 2012 and 2022 and described the change in operation proficiency and occurrence of perioperative complications in this observational study. The learning curve was assessed using the cumulative sum method.

We observed a three-phase pattern of RDP learning with operation time, complications, and postoperative pancreatic fistula as indicators and a two-phase pattern for spleening-preserving success. The mean operation time was 3.9 hours. The incidence rate of clinically significant postoperative pancreatic fistula (CRPOPF) was 17.9% and overall Clavien-Dindo complication rate (≥3) was 16.6%. The change of postoperative complicate rate was correlated with percentage of malignant cases.

In the last decade, an evident decrease was seen in operation time, complication rate, and an increase in the spleen-preserving rate of distal pancreatectomy. With proper training, RDP is a safe and feasible procedure.