A novel robotic central pancreatectomy technique using radiofrequency (RF)-based stump sealing combined with intraductal RF ablation of the main pancreatic duct as a reconstruction-free strategy to reduce postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF), evaluated in 4 consecutive patients.
None of the 4 patients developed POPF or other pancreas-specific complications following the RF-based hybrid approach without distal pancreatico-enteric anastomosis.
Extremely small sample size (n=4); no comparator group; findings represent proof of technical feasibility only and cannot support conclusions about clinical efficacy in reducing POPF.
This RF-based reconstruction-free approach to robotic central pancreatectomy is technically feasible and showed no POPF in 4 early cases, but clinicians should await validation in larger prospective studies before adopting it as a standard alternative to pancreatico-enteric anastomosis.
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