Contemporary National Assessment of Robot-Assisted Surgery Rates and Total Hospital Charges for Major Surgical Uro-Oncological Procedures in the United States.

: Background: The role of robot assistance is increasingly gaining importance among all major surgical uro-oncological procedures (MSUPs). However, contemporary analyses showed that total hospital charges (THCGs) related to robot-assisted procedures exceed those of open procedures. Based on increasing familiarity with robot-assisted surgery, we postulated that THCGs may have decreased over the past half-decade. Thus, we tested contemporary trends and THCGs related to robot-assisted vs nonrobot-assisted MSUPs. Materials and Methods: Within the National Inpatient Sample database (2009-2015), we identified patients who underwent robot-assisted vs nonrobot-assisted (open or laparoscopic) MSUPs, which included radical prostatectomy (RP), radical nephrectomy (RN), partial nephrectomy (PN), and radical cystectomy (RC). Rates of robot-assisted MSUPs were evaluated using estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) analyses. The t-test was used to examine statistically significant differences between mean THCGs according to either robot-assisted or nonrobot-assisted approach. Finally, linear regression analyses were tested for annual variation in the mean THCGs. Results: Of 128,367 MSUPs, 47.7% were robot-assisted. Overall, robot-assisted surgery rates among MSUPs increased from 40.3% to 57.6% (EAPC: +6.3%, p   0.05). Finally, the annual observed mean THCGs linearly decreased for all robot-assisted MSUPs during the study period. Conclusions: Rates of robot-assisted MSUPs exponentially increased between 2009 and 2015. Although the mean THCGs decreased in a significant manner during the study period for all MSUPs, THCGs of robot-assisted RP, RN, and RC still exceed those of their respective nonrobot-assisted counterparts. Conversely, no differences in the mean THCGs were reported between robot-assisted vs nonrobot-assisted PN.