Oncologic and functional outcomes following robot assisted radical prostatectomy: 15-Year experience in a Latin American referral center

Abstract

Background

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men with more than 52,000 cases diagnosed every year on average. With the introduction of robotic surgery, robotic assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) has become a popular treatment option in recent years. Achieving oncological control, urinary continence and satisfactory erectile sexual function after RP is the main goal also known as “trifecta”. All these outcomes are highly influenced by surgical experience and caseload. The main objective of this study is to analyze oncological and functional outcomes in RARP after 15 years of experience.

Methods

From 2008 until December 2023, 1790 RARP for localized prostate cancer were performed. A retrospective analysis was conducted based on prospectively collected data correlated with electronic medical records.

Results

Subgroup analyses were conducted in order to evaluate oncological and functional outcomes (n: 1400). Red blood cell transfusion and conversion to open surgery rate was 1.9 % and 0.1 %, respectively. Mean surgical time was 194 min. Mean follow-up time was 69.5 months, 23.8 % patients experienced biochemical recurrence and 1 % died, primarily due to disease progression. Estimated 10-year recurrence-free survival was 68.7 % (95 % CI 67.2–72.2) while estimated 10-year overall survival was 97.9 % (95 % CI 96.3–99.4). Overall urinary continence rate at 2 years was 86.9 % while satisfactory erectile function rate at 18 months was 56.8 %.

Conclusions

Robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy has become a standard surgical technique in our urological practice for the management of clinically localized and locally advanced prostate tumors in selected cases. After 15 years since the inception of our robotic surgery program, we can conclude that our results are comparable to those published in the international literature, enabling patients to maintain satisfactory sexual function with a high continence rate within the first year of surgery.