Surgical margin status after robot assisted radical cystectomy: results from the International Robotic Cystectomy Consortium.
OBJECTIVE
Positive surgical margins at radical cystectomy confer a poor prognosis. We evaluated the incidence and predictors of positive surgical margins in patients who underwent robot assisted radical cystectomy for bladder cancer.


METHODS
Using the International Robotic Cystectomy Consortium database we identified 513 patients who underwent robot assisted radical cystectomy, as done by a total of 22 surgeons at 15 institutions from 2003 to 2009. After stratification by age group, gender, pathological T stage, nodal status, sequential case number and institutional volume logistic regression was used to correlate variables with the likelihood of a positive surgical margin.


RESULTS
Of the 513 patients 35 (6.8%) had a positive surgical margin. Increasing 10-year age group, lymph node positivity and higher pathological T stage were significantly associated with an increased likelihood of a positive margin (p = 0.010, <0.001 and p <0.001, respectively). Gender, sequential case number and institutional volume were not significantly associated with margin positivity. The rate of margin positive disease at cystectomy was 1.5% for pT2 or less, 8.8% for pT3 and 39% for pT4 disease.


CONCLUSIONS
Positive surgical margin rates at robot assisted radical cystectomy for advanced bladder cancer were similar to those in open cystectomy series in a large, multi-institutional, prospective cohort. Sequential case number, a surrogate for the learning curve and institutional volume were not significantly associated with positive margins at robot assisted radical cystectomy.
Hellenthal
Nicholas J
NJ
Department of Urologic Oncology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Hussain
Abid
A
Andrews
Paul E
PE
Carpentier
Paul
P
Castle
Erik
E
Dasgupta
Prokar
P
Kaouk
Jihad
J
Khan
Shamim
S
Kibel
Adam
A
Kim
Hyung
H
Manoharan
Murugesan
M
Menon
Mani
M
Mottrie
Alex
A
Ornstein
David
D
Palou
Joan
J
Peabody
James
J
Pruthi
Raj
R
Richstone
Lee
L
Schanne
Francis
F
Stricker
Hans
H
Thomas
Raju
R
Wiklund
Peter
P
Wilding
Greg
G
Guru
Khurshid A
KA
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015653:Cystectomy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012371:Robotics; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*