The surgery, conducted from a remote console that controlled up to three robotic arms and a binocular camera, involved women patients.

The laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery (a Roux-en-Y procedure) is often considered the most challenging minimally invasive procedure in general surgery.

Although robotic surgical techniques have been developed to assist laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery, the complex geometry of the surgery has required repositioning of the robot, complicating its use.

Catherine Mohr of the Stanford School of Medicine and colleagues compared surgical times as well as the ratio of the procedure time to the patient's body mass index.

The number and severity of complication were comparable, the researchers found.

"The median length of time to complete the procedure was significantly shorter with the robot," the authors wrote. "Reluctance to use new technology such as the ... surgical robot often reflects surgeon concern over increasing complication rates, increased operative times and steep learning curves," the authors noted.

The study appears in the current issue of the journal Archives of Surgery.

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