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Transoral robotic surgery vs. non-robotic surgeries for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

To compare the effectiveness of transoral robotic surgery (TORS) and non-robotic surgeries (NRES) in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), medical databases were searched including PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library up to January 2023. The methodology follows PRISMA guidelines, including the PRISMA flow diagram. Data from the included studies were extracted independently by two researchers. Seven studies involving five hundred seventy-seven patients were included. Of these, 275 underwent TORS and 302 underwent NRES. The disease-free survival rate was significantly higher in the TORS group than in the NRES group (OR = 3.43, 95% CI 1.92–6.15, P < 0.0001). However, there were no significant differences in positive surgical margins, hospital stays, operation time, blood loss, postoperative bleeding rate, perioperative tracheostomy, perioperative feeding tube, and overall survival rate. These findings can initially guide the preoperative counseling of TORS in patients with OPSCC, and preliminarily confirm that the adoption of TORS deserves careful consideration.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82073009, 81974424), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2022M723557), the Youth Science Foundation of Xiangya Hospital (No. 2022Q08), Changsha Natural Science Foundation (No. kq2208390) and the project of Postgraduate Independent Exploration and Innovation of Central South University (No. 2022ZZTS0823).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 87 Xiangya Road, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Huihong Chen, Yong Liu, Donghai Huang, Xin Zhang & Li She

  2. Otolaryngology Major Disease Research Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Huihong Chen, Yong Liu, Donghai Huang, Xin Zhang & Li She

  3. Clinical Research Center for Pharyngolaryngeal Diseases and Voice Disorders in Hunan Province, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Huihong Chen, Yong Liu, Donghai Huang, Xin Zhang & Li She

  4. National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders (Xiangya Hospital), 87 Xiangya Road, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Yong Liu & Xin Zhang

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  1. Huihong Chen
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  2. Yong Liu
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  4. Xin Zhang
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Contributions

HC: conception and design of the work; data acquisition, analysis and interpretation; drafting the work, final approval. YL: data acquisition, analysis and interpretation; drafting and revising the work, final approval. DH: data acquisition, analysis and interpretation; drafting and revising the work, final approval. XZ: data acquisition, analysis and interpretation; drafting and revising the work, final approval. LS: data acquisition, analysis and interpretation; drafting and revising the work, final approval.

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Correspondence to Li She.

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Chen, H., Liu, Y., Huang, D. et al. Transoral robotic surgery vs. non-robotic surgeries for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Robotic Surg 17, 2537–2546 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-023-01689-6

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