Robotic versus laparoscopic elective colectomy for left side diverticulitis: a propensity score–matched analysis of the NSQIP database

Robotic surgery might have an advantage over conventional laparoscopy for colonic diverticulitis. We intend to compare both approaches in the elective management of left side diverticulitis.

The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database (2012–2014) was surveyed for patients undergoing elective left/sigmoid colectomy for diverticulitis. Patient demographics, co-morbidities, disease complexity, and intraoperative details were matched on propensity scores derived from logistic regression model.

We identified 441 robotic and 6584 laparoscopic cases. Mean age was 56.8 years. Mean BMI was 29.5, and 46.5% of patients were males. Low preoperative albumin (< 3.5 mg/dl, 11.1% vs. 6.8%, p = 0.003), splenectomy (0.45% vs. 0.05%, p = 0.002), and enterotomy repair (1.1% vs. 0.4%, p = 0.029) were higher in the robotic group than the laparoscopic group. Hand assistance (35.8% vs. 42.9%, p = 0.003), splenic flexure takedown (41.5% vs. 49.2%, p = 0.002), and ureteric stent placement (18.6% vs. 23.5%, p = 0.017) were less common in the robotic group than the laparoscopic group. Case-matched analysis showed that robotic surgery was associated with shorter hospital stay (3.89 ± 2.18 days vs. 4.75 ± 3.25 days, p < 0.001), lower conversion rate (7.5% vs. 14.3%, p = 0.001), and longer operative time (219.2 ± 95.6 min vs. 188.8 ± 82.3 min, p < 0.001) than laparoscopic surgery. Robotic approach was associated with lower overall morbidity in multivariate analysis (OR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.55–0.96), but not in case-matched analysis (14.4% vs. 19.2%, p = 0.058).

Robotic surgery is associated with shorter hospital stay and lower conversion rate and may offer lower overall morbidity than laparoscopy after elective left side colectomy for diverticulitis. Controlled prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.