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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Retzius-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy
Published on: May 19, 2022
Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy with the Heilbronn technique: oncological results in the first 500 patients
Jens Rassweiler1, Michael Schulze, Dogu Teber
1Department of Pathology, Klinikum Heilbronn, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. jens.rassweiler@slk-kliniken.de
Purpose:
Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy has become an accepted alternative to open surgery. However, there is still a lack of data concerning the oncological outcome.
Materials And Methods:
From March 1999 to July 2004, 1,078 patients underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy at our institution. Oncological results in the first 500 patients with a minimal followup of 23 months were analyzed, focusing on positive margins, prostate specific antigen (PSA) failure, clinical progression and survival.
Results:
Median followup was 40 months (range 23 to 65). Of the patients 417 underwent pelvic lymph node dissection, which revealed positive nodes in 6 (1.2%). Positive margins were documented in 22 of 296 pT2 tumors (7.4%), 27 of 107 pT3a tumors (25.2%) and 29 of 69 pT3b tumors (42.0%). PSA recurrence was diagnosed in 55 patients (11.0%) at a mean of 20.8 months (range 6 to 36) that is stages pT2a, pT2b, pT3a and pT3b/4 in 3.2%, 6.5%, 15.9% and 23.9%, respectively. PSA progression-free rates were 83.0% at 3 years and 73.1% at 5 years. Two patients died of disease and 6 died of other causes (99.2% overall survival). The clinical progression rate was to 4.1% at 3 years and 9.8% at 5 years. No port site metastasis was observed.
Conclusions:
At centers of expertise laparoscopic radical prostatectomy may provide an oncological outcome similar to that of the open procedure. However, it offers the advantages of minimally invasive surgery.
