Early oncological outcomes for bladder urothelial carcinoma patients treated with robotic-assisted radical cystectomy.
OBJECTIVE
• To determine oncological outcomes including early survival rates among unselected bladder urothelial carcinoma (BUC) patients treated with robotic-assisted radical cystectomy (RRC).


METHODS
• Clinicopathologic and survival data were prospectively gathered for 85 consecutive BUC patients treated with RRC. • The decision to undergo a robotic rather than open approach was made without regard to tumor volume or surgical candidacy. • Kaplan-Meier survival rates were determined and stratified by tumor stage and LN positivity, and multivariate analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of survival.


RESULTS
• Patients were relatively old (25% >80 years; median 73.5 years), with frequent comorbidities (46% with ASA class ≥ 3). Of these patients 28% had undergone previous pelvic radiation or pelvic surgery, and 20% had received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. • Extended pelvic lymphadenectomy was performed in 98% of patients, with on average 19.1 LN retrieved. • On final pathology, extravesical disease was common (36.5%). • Positive surgicalmargins were detected in five (6%) patients, all of whom had extravesical tumors with perineural and/or lymphovascular invasion, and most of whom were >80 years old. • At a mean postoperative interval of 18 months, 20 (24%) patients had developed recurrent disease, but only three (4%) patients had recurrence locally. Disease-free, cancer-specific and overall survival rates at 2 years were 74%, 85% and 79%, respectively. Patients with low-stage/LN(-) cancers had significantly better survival than extravesical/LN(-) or any-stage/LN(+) patients, with stage being the most important predictor on multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
• RRC can achieve adequately high LN yields with a low positive margin rate among unselected BUC patients. • Early survival outcomes are similar to those reported in contemporary open series, with an encouragingly low incidence of local recurrence, however long-term follow-up and head-to-head comparison with the open approach are still needed.
Kauffman
Eric C
EC
Department of Urology, New York Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. erickauffman14@gmail.com
Ng
Casey K
CK
Lee
Ming Ming
MM
Otto
Brandon J
BJ
Wang
Gerald J
GJ
Scherr
Douglas S
DS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015653:Cystectomy / Q000379:methods*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012371:Robotics; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*