title: Laparoscopic versus open radical cystectomy for the management of bladder cancer: mid-term oncological outcome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the mid-term oncological outcome of laparoscopic radical cystectomy (LRC) with those of open radical cystectomy (ORC).
  
  
  METHODS
  From June 2003 to February 2008, 36 LRCs were carried out at our institute for the treatment of bladder cancer. Clinical and oncological data were retrospectively analyzed. A match-pair comparison with an historical series of 34 patients who were submitted to ORC between 1996 and 2003 was carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median follow-up of the LRC group was 21 months (3-56 months). Pathological stage or grade was similar in the two groups. There was no significant difference between the LRC and ORC groups in terms of 3-year overall (64.2% vs 72.6%, respectively; P = 0.682), cancer-specific (73.0% vs 75.3%, respectively; P = 0.951), and recurrence-free survival (70.5% vs 72.5%, respectively; P = 0.715) rates. In a subgroup analysis according to stage, there was also no significant difference in the 3-year disease-specific survival after LRC or ORC for organ-confined (pT1 and pT2; 85.7% vs 83.9%, respectively; P = 0.256) or extravesical disease (pT3 and pT4; 73.3% vs 63.8%, respectively; P = 0.825).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that LRC provides mid-term oncological outcomes similar to those of ORC in the management of bladder cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The Catholic University of Korea, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: U-Syn
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Sung In
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Su Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyuk-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Sung-Hoo
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Ji Youl
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Joon Chul
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sae Woong
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Tae-Kon
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Hwang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015653:Cystectomy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*