Laparoscopic radical cystectomy

Open radical cystectomy with lymph node dissection remains the gold standard treatment for recurrent, high-grade, non-muscle-invasive and for muscle-invasive bladder cancer. The excellent perioperative and long-term results provided by laparoscopic surgery and the advances in instrumentation design have naturally paved the way for development of laparoscopic radical cystectomy (LRC). In this review, surgical and long-term oncological outcomes of LRC are analysed. The advantages of this technique compared with open surgery are described. The differences between pure laparoscopic technique or laparoscopic cystectomy and extracorporeal urinary diversion have also been analysed.