Application and advantages of robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery in the treatment of high-risk prostate cancer / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the feasibility and advantages of robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALRP) in treating high-risk prostate cancer.Methods From Mar.2010 to Dec.2014,69 men with high-risk prostate cancer (clinical stage ≥ T3a,serum PSA ≥ 20 μg/L or biopsy Gleason score ≥8) underwent surgical treatment at our center.RALRP was performed in 44 cases,with a mean age of (66.7 ± 8.6) yrs (range50 ～ 82) and a mean baseline PSA of (23.1 ± 11.2) μg/L (range3.6-48.8).Transperitoneal approach was adopted in all cases.Twenty-five patients were treated with ORP.The mean age was (64.3 ± 5.9) yrs (range52-75) and baseline PSA was (21.7 ± 10.2) μg/L (range5.7-41.3).Baseline clinical features,including age,initial PSA,biopsy Gleason score and clinical staging,were comparable between two cohorts.Surgical outcomes after RALRP were analyzed and compared between groups.Results All RALRP procedures were successfully performed with da Vinci robotic system and there was no open conversion.Mean operation duration were similarly (158 ± 47)min for RALRP group and (152± 42)min for ORP group,respectively.The mean estimated blood loss and postoperative length of hospital stay in RALRP group were (328 ± 254) ml and (8.4 ± 3.1) days,both of which were significant lower than those in ORP group,(674 ± 302) ml and (14.4 ± 3.7) days.Two cases of urine leak and two of lymphatic leak occurred after RALRP,and a statistically insignificantly higher complication rate was observed for the ORP group,in which four of urine leak and three of lymphatic leak happened.The positive surgical margin rates of two groups were 20.5％ and 24％,respectively.After the mean follow-up of 25 (RALRP) and 27 months (ORP),continence rate was significantly higher in the RARLP group (93.2％ vs.72.0％).PSA failure was observed in seven RALRP cases (15.9％) and four ORP cases (16.0％).Conclusion Compared with traditional ORP,RALRP shows significant advantages,including less blood loss,fewer complications,shorter length of stay,better postoperative continence and equivalent oncologic outcome when dealing with high-risk prostate cancer cases.Robot-assisted surgery is a safe and efficacious surgical modality in this setting.