[Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: six key points of operative skill for achieving better urinary continence]

Postoperative urinary incontinence is a major impairment to patients' quality of life after prostatectomy, and is not limited to laparoscopic total prostatectomy. Improvements in devices and techniques of laparoscopic surgery have facilitated reliable cancer control, and in this situation there will now be increasing focus on postoperative quality of life (QOL), particularly urinary incontinence. Between July 2007 and March 2009, we have performed laparoscopic total prostatectomy for 53 patients, focusing on techniques to reduce urinary incontinence. Here we report the details of six key points of operative skill for achieving better urinary continence. These include (1) minimal distal incision of the endopelvic fascia; (2) preservation of the bladder neck; (3) bilateral nerve-sparing surgery; (4) preservation of the puboprostatic ligament and its refixation to the anterior aspect of the bladder neck (bladder neck sling suspension); (5) preservation of the posterior (membranous) urethra; (6) suturing of the posterior aspect of the rhabdosphincter, the remaining portion of the Denonvilliers fascia, and the bladder neck (restoration of the Denonvilliers fascia). Moreover, we separated the 53 patients into two groups: those who were not treated using the above six key points, and those who were. We then compared the data for the two groups with regard to the time taken for continence recovery, operative parameters (operation time and bleeding), and postoperative pathological findings.