Long-term Outcomes of Robot-assisted Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer

BackgroundLong-term oncologic and functional outcomes after robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) for bladder cancer (BCa) are lacking.ObjectiveTo report oncologic and functional outcomes in a cohort of patients who have completed a minimum of 5 yr and a maximum of 8 yr of follow-up after RARC and extracorporeal urinary diversion.Design, setting, and participantsIn this paper, we report on the experience from one of the first European urology centres to introduce RARC. Only patients between 2004 and 2006 were included to ensure follow-up of ≥5 yr. We report on an analysis of oncologic outcomes in 14 patients (11 males and 3 females) with muscle-invasive/high-grade non–muscle-invasive or bacillus Calmette-Guérin–refractory carcinoma in situ who opted to have RARC.InterventionRARC with pelvic lymphadenectomy was performed using the three-arm standard da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, CA, USA). Urinary diversion, either ileal conduit (n = 12) or orthotopic neobladder (n = 2), was constructed extracorporeally.Outcome measurementsParameters were recorded in a prospectively maintained database including assessment of renal function, overall survival, disease-specific survival, development of metastases, and functional outcomes.Statistical analysisResults were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis. Survival data were analysed and presented using the Kaplan-Meier survival curve.Results and limitationsFive of the 14 patients have died. Three patients died of metastatic disease, and two died of unrelated causes. Two other patients are alive with metastases, and another has developed primary lung cancer. Six patients are alive and disease-free. These results show overall survival of 64%, disease-specific survival of 75%, and disease-free survival of 50%. None of the patients had deterioration of renal function necessitating renal replacement therapy. Three of four previously potent patients having nerve-sparing RARC recovered erectile function. The study is limited by the relatively small number of highly selected patients undergoing RARC, which was a novel technique 8 yr ago. The standard da Vinci Surgical System made extended lymphadenectomy difficult.ConclusionsWithin limitations, in our experience RARC achieved excellent control of local disease, but the outcomes in patients with metastatic disease seem to be equivalent to the outcomes of open radical cystectomy.