Table 4.

Preclinical and clinical studies relating to the use of robotics in upper limb procedures.

Reference	Year	Study design	Operations performed	Outcomes reported
Preclinical studies
Taleb et al. (47)	2009	Animal cadaver	Humeral cross-section, amputation, and replantation of the left forelimb. Stages done with surgical robot were soft tissue repair and vessel patency tests during limb replantation (not any microvascular procedures) (N = 1)	Patency tests were all positive. Venous bleeding demonstrated vascular success of replantation
				The robot removed physiological tremor and allowed for a smaller operating field
Huart et al. (48)	2012	Human cadaver	Kite flap hand surgery (N = 1)	Operating time was longer with the robot, but kite flap transfer was successful
Maire et al. (49)	2012	Human cadaver	Removal of left hallux medial hemipulp (with sensory nerve, collateral artery and dorsal vein) and transfer to left thumb radial hemipulp (N = 1)	Successful free hallux hemipulp transfer, however, operating time was increased by non-microsurgical moments which could be improved by instrumentation improvement
Clinical studies
Facca and Liverneaux (50)	2010	Case report	Robotic anastomosis of vein grafts for hypothenar hammer syndrome (N = 1)	No postoperative problems of note
				Successful cure of vasomotor disorder

The number of procedures carried out in each study is documented and represented as N number.