The use of the robotic platform for primary inguinal hernia repair has been a controversial topic. In this issue of JAMA Surgery, the multicenter, pilot clinical trial by Prabhu et al¹ is, to our knowledge, the first of its kind to compare outcomes of laparoscopic and robotic transabdominal preperitoneal inguinal hernia repair. The study showed no differences in postoperative outcomes between the 2 techniques, with the robotic approach incurring significantly greater operative times, total costs, and surgeon frustration. Despite the limitations of the small sample size and potential variations in the proficiency of the participating surgeons, the authors concluded that the use of the robotic platform is not recommended for primary, unilateral inguinal hernias.

使用机器人平台进行腹股沟原发疝修补术一直是一个有争议的话题。据我们所知，在本期《美国医学会杂志》（JAMA Surgery）中， Prabhu等人[ ^1]进行的多中心，先导性临床试验是首例比较腹腔镜和机器人经腹膜腹膜前腹股沟疝修补术效果的试验。这项研究表明，这两种技术之间的术后结局没有差异，而机器人方法会明显增加手术时间，总成本和外科医生的挫败感。尽管样本量小且参与手术的医生的熟练程度可能存在差异，但作者得出结论，不建议将机器人平台用于原发性单侧腹股沟疝。