The impact of training on service provision in laparoscopic radical prostatectomy

To address concerns about the impact of training on patient outcomes during the 'learning curve' for laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP), we compare the results of our patients undergoing LRP with and without trainees performing a substantial proportion of the cases.

In all, 771 consecutive cases of LRP were performed or supervised by one surgeon during a 7.5-year period, of which 114 (15%) were training cases. A five-port transperitoneal technique was used in the first 111 patients and an extraperitoneal approach in the remaining 660. Patient, operative and oncological outcome variables were compared using an independent samples t-test if continuous or with Fisher's exact test for rates.

There were no differences in preoperative patient or cancer characteristics with the exception of body mass index (BMI) which was lower in the training cases (medians 25 and 26 kg/m(2), P = 0.02) and patient age which was higher (medians 64 and 62 years, P < 0.001). Operative time, which was longer in training cases (medians 200 and 175 min, P < 0.001) was the only significantly different operative variable between the groups. There were no statistically significant differences in postoperative (duration of catheterization, hospitalization time, complication rates, biochemical recurrence and pad-free rates at 1 year) or pathological (gland weight, positive surgical margin rate) outcomes between the groups. As Fellows did not perform the posterior or apical dissection steps in nerve-sparing cases, no evaluation of potency outcomes is included.

Training cases took a median of 25 min longer to complete than non-training cases. However, other perioperative measures, complications rates and cancer outcomes were similar. Adequately supervised training in LRP does indeed take additional time but is essential for the dissemination of surgical skills and preservation of acceptable outcomes.