Comparison of urinary continence outcome between robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy versus laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To compare urinary continent rate at six and 12-month postoperative period, and perioperative outcome between robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP) and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) at Siriraj Hospital.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: All medical records of patients performed RALP and LRP between 2005 and 2010 were reviewed. Data composed of demographic information, perioperative outcome, and oncologic outcome. Moreover, the urinary continence rate was also collected at six and 12-month postoperative period by questionnaires based research design.

RESULTS: Between 2005 and 2010, we performed 548 cases of RALP and 613 cases of LRP. Only 486 cases of RALP (88.6%) and 561 cases of LRP (91.5%) had been followed-up more than 12 months. All demographic data including age, biopsy Gleason score, and preoperative PSA level in both groups were comparably. On the other hand, the perioperative outcome in RALP differed from LRP group significantly, including operative time (210 min vs. 255 min), blood loss (449 ml vs. 766 ml), blood transfusion rate (7.6% vs. 25.2%), and length of hospital stay (7 days vs. 8.6 days) (p < 0.001). The oncological outcome including pathologic tumor staging and Gleason score were comparably. Late complication such as anastamosis stricture was not different between the two groups (3.1% in RALP vs. 2.4% in LRP, p = 0.584). The continence rate of RALP and LRP groups at 6-month was 67.8% and 39% and at 12-month was 80% and 63.7%, respectively. The continence rate of RALP was better than LRP significantly.

CONCLUSION: From our experience, perioperative outcome and continence rate at six and 12-month of RALP group was significantly better than LRP group. The demographic data, oncological outcome, and anastamosis stricture rate were comparably in both groups. The most relevant preoperative predictors of urinary continence were patient's age and prostatic weight.