Abstract
BackgroundSimultaneous urothelial cancer manifestation in the lower and upper urinary tract affects approximately 2% of patients. Data on the surgical benchmarks and mid-term oncological outcomes of enbloc robot-assisted radical cystectomy and nephro-ureterectomy are scarce.MethodsAfter written informed consent was obtained, we prospectively enrolled consecutive patients undergoing enbloc radical cystectomy and nephro-ureterectomy with robotic assistance from the DaVinci Si-HD® system in a prospective institutional database and collected surgical benchmarks and oncological outcomes. Furthermore, as one console surgeon conducted all the procedures, whereas the team providing bedside assistance was composed ad hoc, we assessed the impact of this approach on the operative duration.ResultsNineteen patients (9 women), with a mean age of 73 (SD: 7.5) years, underwent simultaneous enbloc robot-assisted radical cystectomy and nephro-ureterectomy. There were no cases of conversion to open surgery. In the postoperative period, we registered 2 Clavien-Dindo class 2 complications (transfusions) and 1 Clavien-Dindo class 3b complication (port hernia). After a median follow-up of 23 months, there were 3 cases of mortality and 1 case of metachronous urothelial cancer (contralateral kidney).The total operative duration did not decrease with increasing experience (r = 0.174, p = 0.534). In contrast, there was a significant, inverse, strong correlation between the console time relative to the total operative duration and the number of conducted procedures after adjusting for the degree of adhesions and the type of urinary diversion(r = -0.593, p = 0.02).ConclusionsThese data suggest that en bloc simultaneous robot-assisted radical cystectomy and nephro-ureterectomy can be safely conducted with satisfactory mid-term oncological outcomes. With increasing experience, improved performance was detectable for the console surgeon but not in terms of the total operative duration. Simulation training of all team members for highly complex procedures might be a suitable approach for improving team performance.Trial registration: Not applicable.Dm4iGs5nWD8FkGrYCfJL2MVideo
Highlights
Simultaneous urothelial cancer manifestation in the lower and upper urinary tract affects approximately 2% of patients
Simulation training of all team members for highly complex procedures might be a suitable approach for improving team performance
We have previously described in detail our technique for simultaneous enbloc robot-assisted radical cystectomy and nephro-ureterectomy [6]
Summary
Simultaneous urothelial cancer manifestation in the lower and upper urinary tract affects approximately 2% of patients. Data on the surgical benchmarks and mid-term oncological outcomes of enbloc robot-assisted radical cystectomy and nephro-ureterectomy are scarce. While data describing the surgical benchmarks of simultaneous enbloc robotassisted radical cystectomy and nephro-ureterectomy [6,7,8,9,10,11] have been reported, information on mid-term oncological outcomes is lacking. Without the proper training of the whole surgical team ( console surgeons), the operative duration will unavoidably be prolonged, for complex procedures. The impact of the surgical team composition on the duration of enbloc robot-assisted radical cystectomy and nephro-ureterectomy, a complex, multistep procedure, has not been explored
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