To compare the short-term efficacy of robotic distal gastrectomy (RDG) and traditional laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG) by Meta-analysis.

A literature search was performed including EMBASE, Pubmed, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CBM, VIP and Wanfang databases. The retrieval time was from the establishment of the database to October 2020. NOS scoring system was used to evaluate literature quality. Statistical analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.3 software.

A total of 2 456 patients with 14 relevant literatures met the standards, including 852 patients (34.69%) in RDG group and 1 604 patients (65.31%) in LDG group. Compared with LDG group, RDG group had longer operation time (WMD=-22.59, 95% CI: -25.55, -19.62; P<0.001), less intraoperative blood loss (WMD=34.29, 95% CI: 20.71, 47.87; P<0.001), earlier postoperative first feeding time (WMD=0.33, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.54; P=0.002), and shorter hospital stay (WMD=0.88, 95% CI: 0.05, 1.71; P=0.04). There were no statistical differences in the postoperative first exhaust time, the number of lymph node dissection and the incidence of total complications, as well as in the following common postoperative complications, such as poor healing of abdominal incision, infection, intra-abdominal hemorrhage, intestinal obstruction and intestinal leakage between the two groups.

RDG for distal gastric cancer can reduce intraoperative blood loss, shorten the first postoperative feeding time and the hospital stay. However, it has no obvious advantages in terms of shortening the operation time, the postoperative first exhaust time, the number of lymph node dissection and the incidence of total complications.