Single-center experience of robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) and extended pelvic lymph node dissection.

To report the outcomes of robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) and extended pelvic lymph node dissection (ePLND) series for bladder cancer.

Between October 2016 and June 2019, overall 57 patients (50 men, 7 women) were included in the study. Patient demographics, operative data, and postoperative pathological outcomes were evaluated. Patients who had a history of pelvic or Professional surgery due to other concurrent malignancy, radiation therapy, or lacked data were excluded from the study.

The mean age of the patients was 64.72±9.09 years. The mean operation time, intraoperative estimated blood loss, and hospitalization time were 418.58±85.66 minutes, 313.00±79.16mL, and 13.44±5.25 days, respectively. The postoperative pathological stages were reported as pT0 (n=8), pTis (n=4), pT1 (n=4), pT2 (n=22), pT3a (n=11), pT3b (n=2), pT4a (n=4), pT4b (n=1), and other (n=1). The mean lymph node (LN) yield was 23.45±9.43. Positive LNs were found in 16 (28.1%) patients. Surgical margins were positive in 3 (5.26%) patients. The mean follow-up period was 15.42±8.31 months. According to the modified Clavien-Dindo system, minor (Clavien 1-2) and major (Clavien 3-5) complications occurred in 18 (31.58%) and 9 (15.78%) patients during the early (0-30 days) period and in 4 (7.02%) and 5 (8.77%) patients in the late (31-90 days) period.

RARC and ePLND are complex but safe procedures with acceptable morbidity and excellent surgical and oncologic outcomes in muscle-invasive or high-risk bladder tumors.

Turkish journal of urology. 2020 Mar 14 [Epub ahead of print]

Mehmet Salih Boğa, Çağatay Özsoy, Yasin Aktaş, Arif Aydın, Murat Savaş, Mutlu Ateş

Department of Urology, Health Sciences University, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey., Department of Urology, Necmettin Erbakan University, Meram School of Medicine, Konya, Turkey., Private Memorial Antalya Hospital, Antalya, Turkey.