In Reply We thank Qian et al and Li and Yang for their comments on our article,1 which highlights the role of robotic platform in right hepatectomy or extended right hepatectomy (RH/ERH).
We acknowledge that in this retrospective study,1 as in previous studies,2,3 residual confounding factors and biases may still exist despite matching and these can only be overcome by conducting a large prospective randomized clinical trial. Furthermore, it cannot be determined definitively if the advantages associated with robotic surgery in this study were due to the technical superiority of the platform itself or due to other factors such as surgeon or center experience/competency.