Over the last 25 years, the mortality rate of pancreas surgery has decreased dramatically. However, the morbidity rate remains quite high. Minimally invasive surgery has been widely adopted in many surgical specialties and the use of robotics is now commonplace. Robotic pancreas surgery offers the promise of decreasing surgical morbidity following pancreas surgery. However, the adoption of robotic surgery has been comparatively slow, likely related to its complexity and absence of formal training programs. Robotic pancreas surgery currently is performed only in select high volume hepatopancreatobiliary programs.

This focused issue on “Robotic Surgery for Pancreatic Disease”, guest edited by Dr. Matthew J. Weiss and Dr. Melissa Hogg, aims to educate pancreas surgeons about robotic techniques now routinely being performed with emphasis on technical aspects of the procedures.