Abstract
Background
Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) is an acceptable procedure for localized prostate cancer. However, RARP has not been offered to patients with high-risk prostate cancer. We report long-term functional and oncologic outcomes of patients who underwent RARP for clinically high-risk prostate cancer and to assess the role of RARP in patients with high-risk prostate cancer.
Methods
This study included 90 patients with high-risk prostate cancer according to the D'Amico criteria who underwent RARP between January 2014 and December 2019. High risk was based on the presence of a clinical stage of ≥ T2c, a pretreatment prostate-specific antigen level > 20 ng/mL, or a biopsy Gleason score ≥ 8. Functional outcomes including postoperative continence and potency were assessed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after RARP. Oncologic outcomes comprised positive surgical margins (PSMs), biochemical recurrence (BCR), BCR-free survival, and clinical recurrence (CR)-free survival rates at 1 and 3 years.
Results
The median operative time was 185 (interquartile range [IQR], 140–250) minutes. Based on postoperative pathology, the rates of PSMs in the entire cohort and in those with stage pT2 disease were 27.8% and 8.9%, respectively. The continence and potency rates at 12 months were 87.8% and 56.7%, respectively. The BCR rate was 23.3%, and the median time to BCR was 10.5 (IQR, 3.5–26.9) months. The 1- and 3-year BCR-free survival rates were 91.5% and 85.5%, respectively, and the 1- and 3-year CR-free survival rates were 97.5% and 90.8%, respectively.
Conclusions
Most patients with clinically high-risk prostate cancer treated with RARP remained BCR-free and CR-free during the long-term follow-up. The optimal functional and oncologic outcomes indicating RARP as a safe and feasible approach in the present study should be confirmed in future studies.
Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy in Patients With Clinically High-Risk Prostate Cancer: Surgical Feasibility and Long-Term Functional and Oncologic Outcomes
