Global trends in paediatric robot-assisted urological surgery: a bibliometric and Progressive Scholarly Acceptance analysis

Abstract

The inaugural robot-assisted urological procedure in a child was performed in 2002. This study aims to catalogue the impact of this technology by utilizing bibliographic data as a surrogate measure for global diffusion activity and to appraise the quality of evidence in this field. A systematic literature search was performed to retrieve all reported cases of paediatric robot-assisted urological surgery published between 2003 and 2016. The status of scientific community acceptance was determined using a newly developed analysis model named progressive scholarly acceptance. A total of 151 publications were identified that reported 3688 procedures in 3372 patients. The most reported procedures were pyeloplasty (n = 1923) and ureteral reimplantation (n = 1120). There were 16 countries and 48 institutions represented in the literature. On average, the total case volume reported in the literature more than doubled each year (mean value increase 236.6% per annum). The level of evidence for original studies remains limited to case reports, case series and retrospective comparative studies. Progressive Scholarly Acceptance charts indicate that robot-assisted techniques for pyeloplasty or ureteral reimplantation are yet to be accepted by the scientific community. Global adoption trends for robotic surgery in paediatric urology have been progressive but remain low volume. Pyeloplasty and ureteral reimplantation are dominant applications. Robot-assisted techniques for these procedures are not supported by high quality evidence at present. Next-generation robots are forecast to be smaller, cheaper, more advanced and customized for paediatric patients. Ongoing critical evaluation must occur simultaneously with expected technology evolution.

Soft Robotics: Academic Insights and Perspectives Through Bibliometric Analysis

“…It has been adopted in a variety of disciplines, such as chemistry, 29 economics, 30 computing, 31 management, 32 , 33 education, 34 medicine, 35 energy, 36 , 37 and robotics. 38 Yet, to our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric analysis to assess the soft robotics research field. Our goal is to provide a general overview on this research area by revealing the following aspects: (1) historical map of the topic; (2) the main contributors: countries, institutes, research groups, authors, and leading research areas; (3) cooperation patterns between countries, institutes, and authors; (4) the most productive journals; (5) top articles with highest citation number; and (6) research interests and perspectives.…”

Urology robotic journey: demonstrating the learning curve in robot-assisted pyeloplasties (RALP)

“…RAS in paediatric departments is proliferating globally [1,4]. With its superior, magnified three-dimensional view, articulated instruments, tremor eradication and improved ergonomics, RAS is unlikely to disappear from the operative canon.…”

“…A recent literature search identified 147 papers regarding paediatric RALP. Although the first was published in 1995, 110 were written in the last decade, with one estimating an increase in RALP-related evidence above 200% per annum [4]. RALP is often the first, and most numerous, urological RAS procedure performed within a paediatric robotic department [4].…”

Searching for the Least Invasive Management of Pelvi-Ureteric Junction Obstruction in Children: A Critical Literature Review of Comparative Outcomes

“…An analysis of the published literature regarding RALP shows that despite the constantly increasing number of publications over years, the level of evidence for available studies remains limited to case reports, case series, and retrospective comparative studies (21). This issue, however, is unfortunately true for any MIP procedure (21).…”