Pentafecta rates of three-dimensional laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: our experience after 150 cases.

INTRODUCTION: Three-dimensional (3D) laparoscopy with a flexible camera was developed to overcome the main limitation of traditional laparoscopic surgery, which is two-dimensional (2D) vision.The aim of our article is to present the largest casistic of 3D laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) available in literature and evaluate our results in terms of pentafecta and compare it with the literature.

METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated consecutive patients who underwent LRP with 3D technology between March 2014 and December 2015. Total operative time (TOT), anasthomosis time (AT), blood loss and complications were registered. All patients presented at least 3 months of follow-up. Surgical outcome was evaluated in terms of Pentafecta.

RESULTS: One hundred fifty consecutive patients underwent 3D LRP. Mean follow-up was 16.9 months. Mean age was 67.7 ± 8.3 years (range 50-76). Mean preoperative PSA value was 8.3 ± 5.8 ng/ml and mean bioptic Gleason Score (GS) was 6.6. We had a mean TOT of 158 ± 23 minutes and a mean AT of 25 ± 12.6. Mean blood loss was 240 ± 40 ml. Eighteen (12%) postoperative complications occurred. Pathologic results: pT2 in 91 patients (58%) and pT3 in 59 (39.3%). Pentafecta was reached by 31.3% of patients at 3 months and 51.6% at 12 months.

CONCLUSIONS: Our oncological and functional results are comparable to those present in literature for laparoscopic and robotic surgery. We believe that our findings can encourage the use of 3D laparoscopy especially considering the increasing attention to healthcare costs.