Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Use of Robot-Assisted Surgery and Minimally Invasive Surgery in Pelvic Cancer Treatment: A Systematic Review

Surgical innovations for cancer treatment may penetrate differentially across racial and ethnic groups and contribute to disparities in health and health care quality. We summarized the current evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in robot-assisted surgery (RAS) and minimally invasive surgery (MIS) use in four major pelvic cancer treatments. We identified studies related to racial and ethnic disparities in RAS and/or MIS use in the treatment of prostate, endometrial, bladder, and rectal cancers during 2001 to 2022 from PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane database. Twenty-eight studies were selected (prostate = 7, endometrial = 14, bladder = 1, rectal = 5, multiple cancers = 1) and all were retrospective. Thirteen and 23 studies examined racial and ethnic differences in individual patients' receipt of RAS and MIS, respectively. Black patients were less likely to receive RAS/MIS than White patients in most studies. Hispanic patients were less likely to receive RAS/MIS than White patients in just over half of the studies. Studies of Asian patients were few and reported mixed results. Three studies examined disparities on the center level and found that racial and ethnic minority prostate cancer patients were less likely to be treated at RAS-performing or high-technology facilities. More work is needed to improve understanding of the mechanisms underlying racial and ethnic disparities in RAS and MIS use and their impact on disparities in health outcomes.