Assessing Surgeon-reported Physical Discomfort in Open Versus Robotic Ureteric Reimplantation: A Comparative Analysis

Surgeons performing ureteric reimplantation (UR) often face physical challenges and discomfort during surgery due to prolonged periods of standing, awkward body positions, and repetitive movements. We aimed to compare surgeon-reported health outcomes between open versus robotic UR.

This single-surgeon prospective comparative study compared surgeon-reported physical discomfort for two surgical approaches, open (Group A) and robotic (Group B) UR, while accounting for the potential influence of operating room time. The outcomes were measured using multiple Likert scale items related to "neck stress," "fatigue," and "shoulder pain," with higher scores indicating worse symptoms, and these were assessed using a standardized questionnaire administered immediately postsurgery. We conducted Ordinary Least Squares regression analyses using the Python Stats models library to investigate the relationships between the independent variables (surgical technique, operative time, and length of stay) and the dependent variables (neck stress, fatigue, and shoulder pain).

Group A included 30 cases, whereas Group B included 21 cases. Overall, the results indicated that the surgeon reported significantly worse outcomes in terms of neck stress, fatigue, and shoulder pain for Group A compared to Group B (P < 0.001 in all three models), even after applying the Bonferroni correction. Operative time was a significant contributing factor to both fatigue and shoulder pain (P = 0.012).

Surgeons performing robotic UR experience significantly less physical discomfort, fatigue, and improved overall surgical experiences compared to those performing open procedures.