Continence outcomes after bladder neck preservation during robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP)

Purpose: Urinary incontinence is one of the major prostate cancer treatment-related morbidities. We review our initial robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) experience, focusing on post-surgery continence rates. Material and methods: Two-hundred and thirty-three consecutive patients were identified from a prospectively maintained RALP database. A bladder neck sparing dissection was preferentially performed during transperitoneal RALP. On postoperative day 5 or 6 (clinic logistics), the urethral catheter was removed following a normal cystogram. Results: Median operative time was 190 minutes and estimated blood loss was 75 mL. Three (1.3%) patients required bladder neck reconstruction, while 198 (85.0%) had bilateral, 20 (8.6%) had unilateral and 15 (6.4%) did not undergo nerve sparing prostatectomy. One-hundred and ninety-nine (85.4%) patients had negative surgical margins. Median hospitalization and urethral catheter duration were 1.0 and 5.0 days, respectively. At six weeks, a median 1.0 pad per day usage was reported and mean AUASS and QoL were significantly improved from baseline (p < 0.05). Of the 220 patients having a minimum three-month follow-up, 152 (69.1%) achieved urinary continence without pads. Age, AUASS, QoL, prostate volume and prior TUR surgery independently had significant impact on early continence rate (p < 0.05). Conclusion: A bladder neck sparing dissection allows for early return of urinary continence following RALP without compromising cancer control.