Effect of 2D vs. 3D laparoscopy on postoperative complications and operation time in a propensity-score-matched real-world data analysis

BACKGROUND: Postoperative complication rates using 3D visualization are rarely reported. The primary aim of our study is to detect a possible advantage of using 3D on postoperative complication rates in a real-world setting. METHOD: With a sample size calculation for a medium effect size difference that 3D reduces significantly postoperative complications, data of 287 patients with 3D visualization and 832 with 2D procedure were screened. The groups underwent an exact propensity score-matching to be comparable. Comprehensive complication index (CCI) for every procedure was calculated and Operation Time was determined. RESULTS: Including 1078 patients in the study, 213 exact propensity score-matched pairs could finally be established. Concerning overall CCI (3D: 5.70 ± 13.63 vs. 2D: 3.37 ± 9.89; p = 0.076) and operation time (3D: 103.98 ± 93.26 min vs. 2D: 88.60 ±6 9.32 min; p = 0.2569) there was no significant difference between the groups. CONCLUSION: Our study shows no advantage of 3D over 2D laparoscopy regarding postoperative complications in a real-world setting, the second endpoint operation time, too, was not influenced by 3D overall.