Tag Archive for: quality of life

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Editorial: Robotic and conventional open radical cystectomy lead to similar postoperative health-related quality of life

In this month’s issue of BJU International, Messer et al. [1] devise a prospective randomised trial to compare postoperative health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after robot-assisted (RARC) vs conventional open radical cystectomy (ORC). The investigators evaluated 40 patients over a follow-up period of 1 year and found no significant difference in HRQoL between surgical approaches. Moreover, they showed that the postoperative decrease in HRQoL returns to baseline within 3 months of surgery.

RC is one of the most challenging and potentially mutilating surgical interventions in the urological field and represents the standard-of-care treatment for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. It is associated with a non-negligible risk of morbidity and mortality [2]. With the advent of new technologies, such as the Da Vinci surgical robot, carefully designed studies are needed to weigh the potential benefits of a novel approach against the increased costs associated with such tools. While RARC holds the promise of combining the benefits of a minimally invasive intervention with the precise robotic translation of the surgeon’s movements, these claims remain to be definitely proven in the clinical setting. As such, further elucidating the effect of surgical approach on perioperative outcomes after RC is essential for treatment planning, patient counselling and informed decision-making before surgery.

QoL is increasingly used as a quantitative measure of treatment success [3, 4]. These measures are gaining considerable traction in the USA, as reimbursements will soon be tied to patient satisfaction. While previous retrospective studies suggest that RARC has comparable perioperative oncological outcomes with potentially lower morbidity relative to ORC [5], there is a scarcity of high-quality evidence on HRQoL outcomes of RARC vs ORC. The difficulties of conducting randomised trials in the surgical setting are reflected by the relatively few participants in the Messer et al. [1] trial. Nonetheless, in their pilot study, the authors demonstrated the feasibility of a HRQoL trial in RC patients. Furthermore, they deliver initial evidence on the impact of surgical approach on HRQoL after RC.

From a clinical perspective, the authors contribute interesting findings to the ongoing debate. Their results suggest that the potential benefits of robot-assisted surgery on HRQoL may be limited in patients undergoing complex oncological surgery such as RC. Several hypotheses may be pertinent to their conclusions. For example, performing an open urinary diversion after RARC that can take as much time as the actual extirpative RC may mitigate any potential benefit of the minimally invasive approach. Furthermore, the study findings may be largely influenced by the surgical skills of the participating surgeons. Maybe the correct interpretation of their study findings is that there was no significant difference in HRQoL outcomes between ORC and RARC, at the institution where the trial was performed.

Nonetheless, the authors suitably demonstrate the feasibility of performing a randomised trial in this field and pave the way towards adequately powered, randomised multicentre trials that can provide further evidence on what impact RARC may have on perioperative outcomes and beyond.

Julian Hanske, Florian Roghmann, Joachim Noldus and Quoc-Dien Trinh*

Department of Urology, Marien Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany, and *Division of Urologic Surgery and Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

References

1 Messer JC, Punnen S, Fitzgerald J, Svatek R, Parekh DJ. Health-related quality of life from a prospective randomised clinical trial of robot-assisted laparoscopic vs open radical cystectomy. BJU Int 2014; 114: 896–902

2 Roghmann F, Trinh QD, Braun K et al. Standardized assessment of complications in a contemporary series of European patients undergoing radical cystectomy. Int J Urol 2014; 21: 143–9

3 Cookson MS, Dutta SC, Chang SS, Clark T, Smith JA Jr, Wells N. Health related quality of life in patients treated with radical cystectomy and urinary diversion for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder: development and validation of a new disease specific questionnaire. J Urol 2003; 170: 1926–30

4 Loppenberg B, von Bodman C, Brock M, Roghmann F, Noldus J, Palisaar RJ. Effect of perioperative complications and functional outcomes on health-related quality of life after radical prostatectomy. Qual Life Res 2014. doi: 10.1007/s11136-014-0729-1

5 Kader AK, Richards KA, Krane LS, Pettus JA, Smith JJ, Hemal AK. Robot-assisted laparoscopic vs open radical cystectomy: comparison of complications and periopera

 

Video: Robot-assisted laparoscopic vs open radical cystectomy – health-related QoL from a prospective randomised clinical trial

Health-related quality of life from a prospective randomised clinical trial of robot-assisted laparoscopic vs open radical cystectomy

Jamie C. Messer, Sanoj Punnen*, John Fitzgerald, Robert Svatek and Dipen J. Parekh

Department of Urology, University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX and *Department of Urology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

Objective

To compare health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) outcomes for robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RARC) with those of traditional open radical cystectomy (ORC) in a prospective randomised fashion.

Patients and Methods

This was a prospective randomised clinical trial evaluating the HRQoL for ORC vs RARC in consecutive patients from July 2009 to June 2011. We administered the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Vanderbilt Cystectomy Index questionnaire, validated to assess HRQoL, preoperatively and then at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months postoperatively. Scores for each domain and total scores were compared in terms of deviation from preoperative values for both the RARC and the ORC cohorts. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the association between the type of radical cystectomy and HRQoL.

Results

At the time of the study, 47 patients had met the inclusion criteria, with 40 patients being randomised for analysis. The cohorts consisted of 20 patients undergoing ORC and 20 undergoing RARC, who were balanced with respect to baseline demographic and clinical features. Univariate analysis showed a return to baseline scores at 3 months postoperatively in all measured domains with no statistically significant difference among the various domains between the RARC and the ORC cohorts. Multivariate analysis showed no difference in HRQoL between the two approaches in any of the various domains, with the exception of a slightly higher physical well-being score in the RARC group at 6 months.

Conclusions

There were no significant differences in the HRQoL outcomes between ORC and RARC, with a return of quality of life scores to baseline scores 3 months after radical cystectomy in both cohorts.

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Article of the month: Better QOL with orthotopic neobladders

Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial written by a prominent member of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

Finally, the third post under the Article of the Week heading on the homepage will consist of additional material or media. This week we feature a video from Dr. Singh of orthotopic neobladder reconstruction by sigmoid colon.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one

Prospective comparison of quality-of-life outcomes between ileal conduit urinary diversion and orthotopic neobladder reconstruction after radical cystectomy: a statistical model

Vishwajeet Singh, Rahul Yadav, Rahul Janak Sinha and Dheeraj Kumar Gupta
Department of Urology, King George Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Read the full article
OBJECTIVE

• To conduct a prospective comparison of quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes in patients who underwent ileal conduit (IC) urinary diversion with those who underwent orthotopic neobladder (ONB) reconstruction after radical cystectomy for invasive bladder cancers.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

• Between January 2007 and December 2012, 227 patients underwent radical cystectomy and either IC urinary diversion or ONB (sigmoid or ileal) reconstruction.

• Contraindications for ON were impaired renal function (serum creatinine >2 mg/dL), chronic inflammatory bowel disease, previous bowel resection and tumour involvement at the bladder neck/prostatic urethra. Patients who did not have these contraindications chose to undergo either IC or ONB reconstruction, after impartial counselling.

• Baseline characteristics, including demographic profile, body mass index, comorbidities, histopathology of the cystoprostatectomy (with lymph nodes) specimen, pathological tumour stage, postoperative complications, adjuvant therapy and relapse, were recorded and compared.

• The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL questionnaire C30 version 3 was used to analyse QoL before surgery and 6, 12 and 18 months after surgery.

RESULTS

• Of the 227 patients, 28 patients in the IC group and 35 in the ONB group were excluded. The final analysis included 80 patients in the IC and 84 in the ONB group.

• None of the baseline characteristics were significantly different between the groups, except for age, but none of the baseline QoL variables were found to be correlated with age.

• In the preoperative phase, there were no significant differences in any of the QoL domains between the IC or the ONB groups. At 6, 12 and 18 months in the postoperative period, physical functioning (P < 0.001, P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively), role functioning (P = 0.01, P = 0.01 and P = 0.003, respectively), social functioning (P = 0.01, P = 0.01 and P = 0.01, respectively) and global health status/QoL (P < 0.001, P < 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively) were better in patients in the ONB group than in those in the IC group and the differences were significant.

• The financial burden related to bladder cancer treatment was significantly lower in the ONB group than in the IC group at 6, 12 and 18 months of follow-up (P = 0.05, P = 0.05 and P = 0.005, respectively)

CONCLUSIONS

• ONB is better than IC in terms of physical functioning, role functioning, social functioning, global health status/QoL and financial expenditure.

• ONB reconstruction provides better QoL outcomes than does IC urinary diversion.

Read more articles of the week

 

Editorial: Life is good with orthotopic bladder substitutes!

In the present issue of the BJUI, Singh et al. [1] present the results of a non-randomized prospective study comprising 80 patients who underwent ileal conduit diversion and 84 who underwent orthotopic bladder substitution. Quality of life was assessed using the European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer quality-of-life questionnaire, the QLQ-30C, at 6, 12 and 18 months postoperatively. Physical and social functioning and global health status were significantly better in patients with orthotopic bladder substitution than in those who underwent ileal conduit diversion. Moreover, the postoperative financial burden was significantly lower for patients in the orthotopic bladder group than for those in the ileal conduit group, who required stoma appliances, a finding of particular importance not only in India, where the study was performed, but worldwide. The authors’ results are particularly impressive given their use of a questionnaire that included many items (‘Were you short of breath?’, ‘Did you need to rest?’, ‘Have you lacked appetite?’, ‘Have you been constipated?’, ‘Did you feel tense?’, ‘Did you worry’ or ‘Did you feel irritable?’, etc.) that can hardly discriminate between the quality of life of patients who underwent orthotopic bladder substitution and those who underwent ileal conduit diversion. To find significant differences between the two types of urinary diversion, despite such dilution factors, speaks strongly in favour of orthotopic bladder substitution.

The results of this prospective single-centre trial are of particular importance because, as the authors state, other investigators could not show such differences, presumably for a variety of reasons, such as too few patients or single follow-up assessments given at time points that varied from patient to patient. Quality-of-life assessment at similar follow-up time points, as performed by these authors, is important because, with adequate counselling, the postoperative function of orthotopic bladder substitutes improves over time.

Without a doubt, however, a poorly functioning orthotopic bladder substitute may lead to a poorer quality of life than a well-functioning ileal conduit diversion. Poor functional results and life-threatening complications can be largely avoided with ileal orthotopic bladder substitutes, provided the treating urologist has adequate knowledge of the procedure and the patient receives adequate postoperative education [2]. The major ways to ensure good results are:

  • appropriate patient selection (good renal function, regular follow-up possible);
  • the avoidance of damage to the sphincter apparatus and its innervation (individualized nerve-sparing cystectomy, minimum use of bipolar electrocautery near the pelvic plexus and membranous urethra);
  • the use of ileum instead of colon (better compliance) [3-5];
  • the avoidance of a funnel-shaped outlet that can result in kinking, outlet obstruction, residual infected urine and, in the worst case, lifelong need for clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) (Fig. 1).

By contrast to most other urological procedures, orthotopic bladder substitution requires proactive postoperative management [6] to ensure:

  • residual urine-free spontaneous voiding after catheter removal;
  • sterile urine to improve urinary continence and to reduce mucous production [7];
  • the prevention of salt loss syndrome and metabolic acidosis by increased salt intake and sodium bicarbonate substitution in the early postoperative period to ensure a base excess of +2;
  • a systematic increase in functional capacity by progressively expanding voiding intervals to obtain a reservoir capacity of ∼500 mL and, thus, a low end-fill pressure which ensures urinary continence day and night (the latter combined with the use of an alarm clock).

It is equally important to perform lifelong follow-up of patients and regularly at 6- to 12-month intervals so as to diagnose and treat early secondary complications, such as uretero-intestinal strictures or residual, infected urine. If the latter occurs, any form of outlet obstruction, such as ileal mucosa protruding in front of the bladder outlet, strictures or growth of inadvertently left prostatic tissue, must be looked for and treated. In our own experience, secondary outlet obstruction occurred in ∼20% of patients observed for 10 years. This rather high incidence is typical for intestinal bladder substitutes because when voiding, unlike the genuine bladder, there is no coordinated contraction of the reservoir wall which would result in an elevated voiding pressure which, in turn, would overcome an outlet resistance. Bladder substitutes empty mainly by gravitational force alone. If voiding is only possible by abdominal straining, then something must be wrong; therefore, instead of recommending CIC for patients who build up residual and consecutively infected urine, we strongly favour treating the outlet obstruction, usually on an outpatient basis. The avoidance of the need for CIC through surgical technique (no funnel-shaped outlet) and during regular follow-up by treating any potential cause of residual urine can substantially improve the patient’s quality of life. It also avoids the cost of catheters and the risk of infectious complications. Thanks to this active management and removal of any outlet obstruction, 96% of our patients followed for 10 years were still able to void spontaneously [8].

Urs E. Studer
Department of Urology, University Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland

Read the full article

References

  1. Singh V, Yadav R, Sinha RJ, Gupta DK. Prospective comparison of quality-of-life outcomes between ileal conduit urinary diversion and orthotopic neobladder reconstruction after radical cystectomy: a statistical model. BJU Int 2014; 113: 726–732
  2. Thurairaja R, Burkhard FC, Studer UE. The orthotopic neobladder. BJU Int 2008; 102: 1307–1313
  3. Berglund B, Kock NG, Myrvold HE. Volume capacity and pressure characteristics of the continent cecal reservoir. Surg Gynecol Obstet 1986; 163: 42–48
  4. Schrier BP, Laguna MP, van der Pal F, Isorna S, Witjes JA. Comparison of orthotopic sigmoid and ileal neobladders: continence and urodynamic parameters. Eur Urol 2005; 47: 679–685
  5. Varol C, Studer UE. Managing patients after an ileal orthotopic bladder substitution. BJU Int 2004; 93: 266–270
  6. Zehnder P, Dhar N, Thurairaja R, Ochsner K, Studer UE. Effect of urinary tract infection on reservoir function in patients with ileal bladder substitute. J Urol 2009; 181: 2545–2549
  7. Thurairaja R, Studer UE. How to avoid clean intermittent catheterization in men with ileal bladder substitution. J Urol 2008; 180: 2504–2509

 

Video: Orthotopic neobladder reconstruction by sigmoid colon

Prospective comparison of quality-of-life outcomes between ileal conduit urinary diversion and orthotopic neobladder reconstruction after radical cystectomy: a statistical model

Vishwajeet Singh, Rahul Yadav, Rahul Janak Sinha and Dheeraj Kumar Gupta
Department of Urology, King George Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

 

Read the full article
OBJECTIVE

• To conduct a prospective comparison of quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes in patients who underwent ileal conduit (IC) urinary diversion with those who underwent orthotopic neobladder (ONB) reconstruction after radical cystectomy for invasive bladder cancers.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

• Between January 2007 and December 2012, 227 patients underwent radical cystectomy and either IC urinary diversion or ONB (sigmoid or ileal) reconstruction.

• Contraindications for ON were impaired renal function (serum creatinine >2 mg/dL), chronic inflammatory bowel disease, previous bowel resection and tumour involvement at the bladder neck/prostatic urethra. Patients who did not have these contraindications chose to undergo either IC or ONB reconstruction, after impartial counselling.

• Baseline characteristics, including demographic profile, body mass index, comorbidities, histopathology of the cystoprostatectomy (with lymph nodes) specimen, pathological tumour stage, postoperative complications, adjuvant therapy and relapse, were recorded and compared.

• The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL questionnaire C30 version 3 was used to analyse QoL before surgery and 6, 12 and 18 months after surgery.

RESULTS

• Of the 227 patients, 28 patients in the IC group and 35 in the ONB group were excluded. The final analysis included 80 patients in the IC and 84 in the ONB group.

• None of the baseline characteristics were significantly different between the groups, except for age, but none of the baseline QoL variables were found to be correlated with age.

• In the preoperative phase, there were no significant differences in any of the QoL domains between the IC or the ONB groups. At 6, 12 and 18 months in the postoperative period, physical functioning (P < 0.001, P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively), role functioning (P = 0.01, P = 0.01 and P = 0.003, respectively), social functioning (P = 0.01, P = 0.01 and P = 0.01, respectively) and global health status/QoL (P < 0.001, P < 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively) were better in patients in the ONB group than in those in the IC group and the differences were significant.

• The financial burden related to bladder cancer treatment was significantly lower in the ONB group than in the IC group at 6, 12 and 18 months of follow-up (P = 0.05, P = 0.05 and P = 0.005, respectively)

CONCLUSIONS

• ONB is better than IC in terms of physical functioning, role functioning, social functioning, global health status/QoL and financial expenditure.

• ONB reconstruction provides better QoL outcomes than does IC urinary diversion.

Read more articles of the week

 

Article of the week: Quality of life after robotic cystectomy

Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial written by a prominent member of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one.

Short-term patient reported health-related quality of life (HRQL) outcomes after robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC)

Michael A. Poch, Andrew P. Stegemann, Shabnam Rehman, Mohamed A. Sharif, Abid Hussain, Joseph D. Consiglio*, Gregory E. Wilding* and Khurshid A. Guru

Departments of Urology and *Biostatistics, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA

Read the full article
OBJECTIVE

• To determine short-term health-related quality of life (HRQL) outcomes after robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) using the Bladder Cancer Index (BCI) and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Body Image Scale (BIS).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

• All patients undergoing RARC were enrolled in a quality assurance database.

• The patients completed two validated questionnaires, BCI and BIS, preoperatively and at standardised postoperative intervals.

• The primary outcome measure was difference in interval and baseline BCI and BIS scores.

• Complications were identified and classified by Clavien grade.

RESULTS

• In all, 43 patients completed pre- and postoperative questionnaires.

• There was a decline in the urinary domain at 0–1 month after RARC (P = 0.006), but this returned to baseline by 1–2 months.

• There was a decline in the bowel domain at 0–1 month (P < 0.001) and 1–2 months (P = 0.024) after RARC, but this returned to baseline by 2–4 months.

• The decline in BCI scores was greatest for the sexual function domain, but this returned to baseline by 16–24 months after RARC.

• Body image perception using BIS showed no significant change after RARC except at the 4–10 months period (P = 0.018).

CONCLUSIONS

• Based on BCI and BIS scores HRQL outcomes after RARC show recovery of urinary and bowel domains ≤6 months. Longer follow-up with a larger cohort of patients will help refine HRQL outcomes.

 

Editorial: The evolution of robotic cystectomy

A decade has passed since the publication of the first series of robot-assisted radical cystectomies in the BJUI by Menon et al. [1]. New technologies are fascinating, and many surgeons who aspire to leave a mark in history take the lead in pioneering new procedures. Others follow without waiting for any evidence to justify the adoption of new procedures. In this race, the opinion of the most important stakeholder, the patient, gets ignored.

Although their study has many methodological flaws, Guru et al. [2] have made the effort to collect data on patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQL) after robot-assisted radical cystectomy for bladder cancer. Radical cystectomy is a morbid procedure with a serious impact on patients’ HRQL, no matter how it is performed. Loosing an organ which is responsible for the storage and evacuation of urine several times a day and replacing it with alternatives of continent or incontinent diversion has a serious impact on quality of life, as is evident from this study.

Robotic cystectomy is still evolving. With more experience, a few experts have ventured to perform intracorporeal reconstruction of the urinary diversion. While we await the long-term functional outcomes of this switch over in surgical approach, Guru et al. report the short-term HQRL outcomes in a series of 43 patients undergoing robot-assisted radical cystectomy and intracorporeal urinary diversion at their institution. Most patients (n = 38) had ileal conduit urinary diversion. The authors went on to compare the postoperative outcomes of this cohort with another group of 70 patients who only completed the questionnaire after having undergone robot-assisted radical cystectomy and extracorporeal urinary diversion.

It is interesting to note that there was no significant difference in HRQL between those undergoing extracorporeal and those undergoing intracorporeal reconstruction. These outcomes reinforce the need to gather robust scientific evidence from properly conducted multi-centre, multinational randomized trials before the introduction of new procedures, instead of evaluation with retrospective studies. The urological community has embraced new technologies and patients have benefited a great deal from these innovative approaches; however, it is incumbent upon us to develop a culture of independent, unbiased data collection on outcomes. In this regard we must make the HQRL one of the most important quality indicators in assessment of the new procedures. Such an approach will enable us to justify the extra cost which society has to bear for our innovative trends in the management of old problems [3].

Read the full article

Muhammad Shamim Khan
Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital and King’s College London, London, UK

References

  1. Menon M, Hemal AK, Tewari A et al. Nerve-sparing robot-assisted radical cystoprostatectomy and urinary diversionBJU Int 2003; 92: 232–236
  2. Poch MA, Stegemann AP, Rehman S et al. Short-term patient reported health-related quality of life (HRQL) outcomes after robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC)BJU Int 2014; 113: 260–265
  3. Wang TT, Ahmed KA, Khan MS et al. Quality-of-care framework in urological cancers: where do we stand? BJU Int 2011; 109: 1436–1443

 

Article of the month: The race to urinary continence after RP

Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial written by prominent members of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

Finally, the third post under the Article of the Week heading on the homepage will consist of additional material or media. This week we feature a video of Inge Geraerts discussing functional outcomes after ORP and RARP.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one.

Prospective evaluation of urinary incontinence, voiding symptoms and quality of life after open and robot-assisted radical prostatectomy

Inge Geraerts*, Hendrik Van Poppel†, Nele Devoogdt*‡, Ben Van Cleynenbreugel†, Steven Joniau† and Marijke Van Kampen*‡

Departments of *Rehabilitation Science, †Urology and ‡Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Read the full article
OBJECTIVE

• To compare functional outcomes, i.e. urinary incontinence (UI), voiding symptoms and quality of life, after open (ORP) and robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

• Between September 2009 and July 2011, 180 consecutive patients underwent radical prostatectomy; of these, 116 underwent ORP and 64 underwent RARP. We prospectively assessed the functional outcomes of each group during the first year of follow-up.

• We measured UI on the 3 days before surgery (24-h pad test) and daily after surgery until total continence, defined as 3 consecutive days of 0 g urine leak, was achieved. Additionally, all patients were assessed before surgery and at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and the King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ).

• All patients received pelvic floor muscle training until continence was achieved.

• Kaplan–Meier analyses and Cox regression with correction for covariates were used to compare time to continence. A Mann–Whitney U-test was used to assess IPSS and KHQ.

RESULTS

• Patients in the RARP group had a significantly lower D’Amico risk group allocation and underwent more nerve-sparing surgery. Other characteristics were similar.

• Patients in the RARP group regained continence sooner than those in the ORP group (P = 0.007). In the RARP group, the median time to continence (16 vs 46 days, P = 0.026) was significantly shorter and the median amount of first day UI (44 vs 186 g, P < 0.01) was significantly smaller than in the ORP group. After correction for all covariates, the difference remained significant (P = 0.036, hazard ratio [HR] 1.522 (1.027–2.255). In addition, younger men, men with positive surgical margins and men without preoperative incontinence achieved continence sooner.

• A comparison of time to continence between groups with a sufficient number of patients (intermediate risk and/or bilateral nerve-sparing) still showed a faster return of continence after RARP, but the effect decreased in size and was nonsignificant (HR>1.2, P> 0.05).

• Only six patients (two in the RARP and four in the ORP group) still had UI after 1 year.• Patients in the RARP group had significantly better IPSS scores at 1 (P = 0.013) and 3 (P = 0.038) months, and scored better in almost all KHQ aspects.

CONCLUSION

• In this prospective trial, patients treated with RARP tended to regain urinary continence sooner than patients treated with ORP, but in subgroup analyses statistical significance disappeared and effect size decreased dramatically, indicating that the results must be interpreted with caution.

 

Read Previous Articles of the Week

 

Editorial: Regaining continence after radical prostatectomy: RARP vs. ORP

Functional outcomes represent relevant criteria to evaluate the success of radical prostatectomy (RP) in the treatment of localised and locally advanced prostate cancer. Indeed, while the primary goal of RP remains the complete extirpation of the primary tumour, patients’ satisfaction can be negatively affected by urinary incontinence and/or erectile dysfunction after RP.

In this issue of BJUI, Geraerts et al. [1] evaluated urinary continence recovery and voiding symptoms in a well-conducted, single-centre, prospective non-randomised study comparing two contemporary series of patients who underwent either open retropubic RP (RRP) or robot-assisted RP (RARP) for clinically localised or locally advanced prostate cancer. Patients were assigned to each group according to their or their surgeon’s preference. High-risk prostate cancers were preferably treated with an open access to offer a more accurate extended lymphadenectomy. The study showed that the urinary continence recovery rate was significantly shorter in the RARP group than in the RRP group (16 vs 46 days; P = 0.008). Interestingly, the RA approach remained an independent predictor of time to urinary continence recovery on multivariable Cox regression analysis (P = 0.03; hazard ratio [HR] 1.52, 95% CI 1.03–2.26). Therefore, this study confirmed previously published results. In 2003, Tewari et al. [2] reported a shorter time to recovery of urinary continence in patients who underwent RARP (44 days) than those who received RRP (160 days). In 2008, Kim et al. [3] reported a median time to continence in RARP patients of 1.6 months, significantly lower than the 4.3 months in the RRP patients. Interestingly, Geraerts et al. [1] identified other independent predictors of time to continence, such as patient’s age >65 years (P = 0.02; HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.45–0.96) and the preoperative continence status (P = 0.004; HR 1.69, 95% CI 1.18–2.43). In all, 28% of patients who received RRP and 34% of those who underwent RARP were preoperatively defined as incontinent using a symptom-specific questionnaire [1]. These patients classifiable as ‘Cx’ according to the Survival, Continence and Potency (SCP) classification [4] represent a confounding population in the Geraerts et al. study who should be evaluated separately.

An interesting question is whether the reported difference in time to continence in favour of RARP is also significant from the clinical perspective. Urinary continence in patients who underwent RARP recovered 1 month early than those treated with traditional RRP. The King’s Health questionnaire seems to confirm a positive effect of this outcome on the patient’s quality of life (QoL). Indeed, there were better results in the RARP compared with RRP group at 1 and 3 months after RP. Moreover, at 12 months after RP, patients who underwent RRP were more physically limited (P = 0.01) and took more precautions to avoid urine loss (P = 0.01) than those who received a RARP [1]. These data seem to be in conflict with the reported overlapping 12-month urinary continence rates (96% in RRP and 97% in RARP group). Moreover, looking at the 12-month urinary continence rate, the Geraerts et al. study does not confirm the results of a recent cumulative analysis of available comparative studies showing a better 12-month urinary continence rate after RARP compared with RRP (odds ratio 1.53; P = 0.03) [1].

Interestingly, the 12-month urinary continence rate reported after RRP by Geraerts et al. is significantly higher (96%) than the values reported in the comparative studies included in the meta-analysis (88.7%) and in the most important and recent RRP non-comparative series (60–93%) [5]. This aspect appears to confirm the important role of surgeon experience. Indeed, in this Belgium series most of the open procedures were performed by an expert surgeon with experience of >3000 RRPs, and thus able to reach excellent functional outcomes for urinary continence recovery. In favour of robotic surgeons, we could consider that they were able to reach overlapping results after <200 cases.

In conclusion, the study published by Geraerts et al. [1] showed that modern RP in expert hands is able to achieve excellent results for urinary continence recovery regardless of the approach. However, pure and RA laparoscopy has pushed open surgeons to improve technical and postoperative aspects to achieve comparable outcomes. RARP can offer some advantages over traditional RRP, above all for the time to reach urinary continence. This advantage seems to have generated a better QoL profile in patients who underwent RARP at 12 months after RP.

However, the choice between the two techniques must be taken according to all the most relevant parameters including perioperative, functional (continence and potency) and oncological outcomes. Therefore, we strongly support the publication of clinical series or comparative studies reporting results according to the ‘trifecta’, ‘pentafecta’ or SCP systems [6].

Vincenzo Ficarra°, Alessandro Iannettiand Alexandre Mottrie
OLV Vattikuti Robotic Surgery Institute, Aalst, Belgium, °Department of Experimental and Clinical Medical Sciences – Urology Unit – School of Medicine, University of Udine, 
and *Department of Surgical, Oncologic and Gastrointestinal Sciences, Padua, Italy

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References

  1. Geraerts I, Van Poppel H, Devoogdt N, Van Cleynenbreugel B, Joniau S, Van Kampen M. Prospective evaluation of urinary incontinence, voiding symptoms and quality of life after open and robot-assisted radical prostatectomyBJU Int 2013; 112:936–943
  2. Tewari A, Srivasatava A, Menon M, Members of the VIP Team. A prospective comparison of radical retropubic and robot-assisted prostatectomy: experience in one institutionBJU Int 2003; 92: 205–210
  3. Kim SC, Song C, Kim W et al. Factors determining functional outcomes after radical prostatectomy: robot-assisted versus retropubicEur Urol 2011; 60: 413–419
  4. Ficarra V, Sooriakumaran P, Novara G et al. Systematic review of methods for reporting combined outcomes after radical prostatectomy and proposal of a novel system: the survival, continence, and potency (SCP) classificationEur Urol 2012; 61:541–548
  5. Ficarra V, Novara G, Rosen RC et al. Systematic review and meta-analysis of studies reporting urinary continence recovery after robot-assisted radical prostatectomyEur Urol 2012; 62: 405–417
  6. Ficarra V, Borghesi M, Suardi N et al. Long-term evaluation of survival, continence and potency (SCP) outcomes after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP)BJU Int 2013; 112: 338–345

Video: Functional outcomes after ORP and RARP

Prospective evaluation of urinary incontinence, voiding symptoms and quality of life after open and robot-assisted radical prostatectomy

Inge Geraerts*, Hendrik Van Poppel, Nele Devoogdt*, Ben Van Cleynenbreugel, Steven Joniau and Marijke Van Kampen*

Departments of *Rehabilitation Science, Urology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

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OBJECTIVE

• To compare functional outcomes, i.e. urinary incontinence (UI), voiding symptoms and quality of life, after open (ORP) and robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

• Between September 2009 and July 2011, 180 consecutive patients underwent radical prostatectomy; of these, 116 underwent ORP and 64 underwent RARP. We prospectively assessed the functional outcomes of each group during the first year of follow-up.

• We measured UI on the 3 days before surgery (24-h pad test) and daily after surgery until total continence, defined as 3 consecutive days of 0 g urine leak, was achieved. Additionally, all patients were assessed before surgery and at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and the King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ).

• All patients received pelvic floor muscle training until continence was achieved.

• Kaplan–Meier analyses and Cox regression with correction for covariates were used to compare time to continence. A Mann–Whitney U-test was used to assess IPSS and KHQ.

RESULTS

• Patients in the RARP group had a significantly lower D’Amico risk group allocation and underwent more nerve-sparing surgery. Other characteristics were similar.

• Patients in the RARP group regained continence sooner than those in the ORP group (P = 0.007). In the RARP group, the median time to continence (16 vs 46 days, P = 0.026) was significantly shorter and the median amount of first day UI (44 vs 186 g, P < 0.01) was significantly smaller than in the ORP group. After correction for all covariates, the difference remained significant (P = 0.036, hazard ratio [HR] 1.522 (1.027–2.255). In addition, younger men, men with positive surgical margins and men without preoperative incontinence achieved continence sooner.

• A comparison of time to continence between groups with a sufficient number of patients (intermediate risk and/or bilateral nerve-sparing) still showed a faster return of continence after RARP, but the effect decreased in size and was nonsignificant (HR>1.2, P> 0.05).

• Only six patients (two in the RARP and four in the ORP group) still had UI after 1 year.• Patients in the RARP group had significantly better IPSS scores at 1 (P = 0.013) and 3 (P = 0.038) months, and scored better in almost all KHQ aspects.

CONCLUSION

• In this prospective trial, patients treated with RARP tended to regain urinary continence sooner than patients treated with ORP, but in subgroup analyses statistical significance disappeared and effect size decreased dramatically, indicating that the results must be interpreted with caution.

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