Studies comparing open RC and robotic RC have shown similar survival outcomes but significantly less blood loss in the robotic procedure. Additionally, it has been shown that Robotic RC is not superior to open RC in terms of complications, length of hospital stay and health related quality of life. When looking at the rate of performance of an orthotopic urinary diversion among low and high volume surgeons, the rate is around 1.4-30% and 39-75% of RC cases, respectively.
The International Robot Cystectomy Consortium was initiated in 2006, involving 33 institutes worldwide, having performed more than 2000 robotic cases so far. Out of these, 28% were orthotopic neobladders. When comparing intra-corporeal to extracorporeal robotic neobladders, there is a trend to more complications with intra-corporeal neobladders, with extra-corporeal urinary diversions showing more readmissions.
Dr. van der Poel concluded his talk, stating the robotic RC is the future, with more data needed to assess the significance of performing and intra-corporeal vs. extra-corporeal urinary diversion.
Speaker: Henk van der Poel, MD, PhD, Board of the Dutch Urological Association and the European Association of Urology, Editor-in-Chief of the Netherlands Journal of Urology Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Written By: Hanan Goldberg, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow (SUO), University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre @GoldbergHanan at The 15th Meeting of the EAU Section of Oncological Urology ESOU18 - January 26-28, 2018 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands