The institutional impact of robotic surgery adoption: evidence from prostate and thyroid cancers in South Korea.

IF 2.2 3区医学 Q2 SURGERY

Journal of Robotic Surgery Pub Date : 2025-07-16 DOI:10.1007/s11701-025-02455-6

Junsoo Ro, Young Kyung Do

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The adoption of robotic surgery has significantly impacted various levels of the health system. However, previous studies lack evidence of causality regarding the impact at the institutional level. This study explores the effects of robotic surgery adoption on prostate and thyroid cancer treatments in South Korea, using the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) data from 2005 to 2017. We applied interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) to examine changes in the number of inpatient admissions and volume of surgery at institutions before and after robotic surgery adoption. For prostate cancer, robotic surgery adoption resulted in an immediate increase of approximately 4.9 surgeries per quarter, with a substantial rise in inpatient admissions. For thyroid cancer, inpatient admissions showed a significant upward trend post-adoption. The increase in service volumes after the adoption of robotic surgery may reflect strategic institutional efforts to expand service delivery, supplier-induced demand to meet performance targets, or the advertising effects of robotic surgery adoption, which likely attracted patients from surrounding areas. This study highlights the broader implications of high-cost medical technologies on healthcare delivery, institutional strategies, and potential increases in healthcare costs. Future research should investigate other conditions treated with robotic surgery to fully understand its system-wide effects.

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采用机器人手术的制度影响：来自韩国前列腺癌和甲状腺癌的证据。

机器人手术的采用对卫生系统的各个层面产生了重大影响。然而，以前的研究缺乏关于制度层面影响的因果关系的证据。本研究利用韩国国民健康保险服务（NHIS） 2005年至2017年的数据，探讨了机器人手术对韩国前列腺癌和甲状腺癌治疗的影响。我们应用中断时间序列分析（ITSA）来检查机构在采用机器人手术前后住院人数和手术量的变化。对于前列腺癌，机器人手术的采用导致每季度大约增加4.9例手术，住院人数大幅增加。对于甲状腺癌，住院人数在采用后呈显著上升趋势。采用机器人手术后服务量的增加可能反映了机构扩大服务提供的战略努力，供应商诱导的满足绩效目标的需求，或者采用机器人手术的广告效应，这可能吸引了周边地区的患者。本研究强调了高成本医疗技术对医疗保健服务、机构战略和医疗保健成本潜在增加的更广泛影响。未来的研究应该调查机器人手术治疗的其他疾病，以充分了解其系统范围的影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Robotic Surgery SURGERY-

CiteScore

4.20

自引率

8.70%

发文量

145

期刊介绍： The aim of the Journal of Robotic Surgery is to become the leading worldwide journal for publication of articles related to robotic surgery, encompassing surgical simulation and integrated imaging techniques. The journal provides a centralized, focused resource for physicians wishing to publish their experience or those wishing to avail themselves of the most up-to-date findings.The journal reports on advance in a wide range of surgical specialties including adult and pediatric urology, general surgery, cardiac surgery, gynecology, ENT, orthopedics and neurosurgery.The use of robotics in surgery is broad-based and will undoubtedly expand over the next decade as new technical innovations and techniques increase the applicability of its use. The journal intends to capture this trend as it develops.