Laparoscopic surgery experience does not influence oncological and functional results of robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy.

Introduction: Surgery is one of the treatment alternatives for prostate cancer, and robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) has become the new trend in the past decade. There is no consensus yet for surgeons who will perform RALP whether they need to be trained or experienced in laparoscopy. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the surgeon's laparoscopy experience in the perioperative and postoperative results of RALP patients.
Material and Method: Patients who underwent RALP were retrospectively screened. The first 20 cases done by surgeons in both groups and 40 cases in total were included in the study. Surgeons with laparoscopy training were designated as group 1, and surgeons without laparoscopy training were designated as group 2. Patient's age, preoperative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value, prostate biopsy pathology, radical prostatectomy pathology, surgical margin positivity, extracapsular extension, and seminal vesicle invasion status, blood transfusion rate, operation time, length of hospital stay, and 1-year follow-up potency and urinary incontinence rates were compared.
Results: There was no difference between the two groups in terms of age, preoperative PSA, preoperative biopsy results, blood transfusion rates, operation times, and the length of hospital stay of the patients. When the postoperative oncological and functional results of the patients were examined, there was no difference between the two groups in the prostatectomy pathology ( p  = 0.895), extracapsular extension (pT3a) ( p  = 0.519), positive surgical margin (pSM) ( p  = 0.723), and seminal vesicle invasion (pT3b) ( p  = 0.756). Potency and urinary incontinence rates were similar in both groups at the end of one year follow-up ( p  = 0.327, 0.500 respectively).
Conclusions: Based on our study, it is clearly seen that regardless of the surgeon's experience of laparoscopy, it can be safely preferred when looking at the oncological and functional results of RALP.