Comparison of open and laparoscopic radical cystectomy as regards long-term oncological outcomes for bladder cancer

Abstract

Objective: Recently, the laparoscopic technique has become widely accepted as a minimally invasive modality which reduces morbidity and provides similar oncological outcomes to open surgery. However, the number of clinical trials comparing laparoscopic and open radical cystectomy are limited. The objectives of this study are to compare the long-term oncological outcomes between open radical cystectomy (ORC) and laparoscopic radical cystectomy (LRC) for bladder cancer. Materials and Methods: Out of 144 radical cystectomy patients admitted to our institute from January 2006 to December 2016, 87 patients were categorized as being in the LRC group, and 57 patients in the ORC group. Baseline characteristics, perioperative variables, and pathology results were collected retrospectively. Oncological outcomes including overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were analyzed and compared between the two groups. Results: The mean age of the patients was 64.19 ± 9.89 years in the ORC group and 61.90 ± 10.47 years in the LRC group. The most frequent urinary diversion procedure in both groups was ileal conduit. All pathology results between the LRC group and the ORC group showed no statistical significance. The median follow-up duration was 57.18 ± 44.68 months in the ORC group and 53.96 ± 34.97 months in the LRC group. There was no statistically significant difference in overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) between the groups (p = 0.322, 0.946, and 0.528, respectively). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that the long-term oncological outcome of LRC is comparable to ORC in the management of bladder cancer. LRC is an alternative option to open radical cystectomy and is safe, effective, and feasible. However, further large comparative studies with adequate long-term follow-up are recommended to support our results.