Robotic Prostatectomy Superior Results Achievable

A recent publication documenting analysing Prof Stricker’s robotic radical prostatectomy outcomes has confirmed that robotic radical prostatectomy may give a better chance of cancer clearance than open surgery.

Prof Stricker’s cases documenting over 2200 cases have shown that not only did Prof Stricker achieve improved continence and potency results with robotic prostatectomy but early indications of a higher chance of cure (biochemical disease-free survival).  This extremely large series which is the largest reported in Australasia suggests that in his series, better outcomes can be achieved with robotic surgery after a large experience.  Whilst these results only relate to Prof Stricker’s cases, they also clearly document the long learning curve required to become expert in the technique of robotic radical prostatectomy.  What is interesting in this study is that Professor Stricker has experience with both open and robotic radical prostatectomies (over 4500 open prostatectomies and over 2000 robotic prostatectomies by the end of the study).  Whilst the surgeon and experience are clearly paramount in surgical outcomes , according to this study the robotic technology may also have a bearing.  This will need to be validated in other large series.

Prof Stricker felt that a possible explanation for this improvement with his robotic technique is the ever-improving techniques with nerve sparing, improved vision with the Da Vinci robot, and simple gentleness and experience.

  1. Superior Biochemical Recurrence and Long-term Quality-of-life Outcomes Are Achievable with Robotic Radical Prostatectomy After a Long Learning Curve—Updated Analysis of a Prospective Single-surgeon Cohort of 2206 Consecutive Cases
    James E. Thompson’Correspondence information about the author James E. ThompsonEmail the author James E. Thompson, Sam Egger, Maret Böhm, Amila R. Siriwardana, Anne-Maree Haynes, Jayne Matthews, Matthijs J. Scheltema, Phillip D. Stricker
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2017.11.035