The impact of high body mass index on patients undergoing robotic pancreatectomy: A propensity matched analysis

Background: Patients with high body mass index are associated with a higher risk of complications after open pancreatectomy. We aimed to investigate the perioperative outcome for patients with high body mass index after robotic pancreatectomy. Methods: This is a retrospective, propensity-score matched cohort analysis. From our prospectively maintained database, we identified consecutive patients with body mass index >25 who underwent robotic pancreatectomy between January 2016 and December 2018. Propensity score matching with open pancreatectomy was applied in 1:2 fashion based on age, gender, American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, surgery type, histology, neoadjuvant therapy, and body mass index during the same study period. Results: A total of 127 patients were included. The mean age for all patients was 61.7 ± 12.8 years and 65 (51.2%) were male. Median body mass index was 29.9 (interquartile range, 27.0–31.8) for both groups. Propensity score matching provided equally distributed general demographic and clinicopathological factors. Robotic pancreatectomy was associated with decreased blood loss (100 mL vs 300 mL, P < .001) and shorter hospital stay (7 vs 9 days, P = .019). Conclusion: Robotic pancreatectomy is associated with decreased blood loss and shorter length of hospital stay in overweight patients. Robotic approach may help alleviate morbidity in overweight patients undergoing pancreatectomy.