Robotic resection for posterosuperior liver lesions: is it really superior to laparoscopic resection?

Recovery after traditional open liver resection is greatly hindered by a big upper abdominal incision. This is especially true when the scale of parenchymal liver resection is relatively small, such as wedge resection or left lateral sectionectomy. In such scenarios, the access trauma outweighs the surgical trauma. On the other hand, when the surgical trauma is large, such as major hepatectomy or extended liver resection, the surgical trauma rather than the access trauma determines the postoperative recovery. Thus, minimal access surgery or minimally invasive surgery has come up as a fantastic way to minimize the access trauma and help to speed up recovery and shorten hospital stay (1).