Robot assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: assistant's seniority has no influence on perioperative course

An experienced surgical team, in general, and the surgeon assistant in particular are believed to play a critical role in the operation's safety and success. We sought to explore whether the assistant's seniority influences perioperative course following robot assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP). We reviewed our prospective registry database of RALP cases performed by a single surgeon who during the study period was beyond his learning curve. The following parameters were documented and analyzed: patient's age, body mass index (BMI), associated comorbidities, previous abdominal surgeries, assistant's identity, total and skin-to-skin operative time (tOT, ssOT, respectively), estimated blood loss (EBL), immediate post-operative complications, length of stay (LOS), and prostate weight per final pathology report. Univariate analysis and Spearman's correlation test were used to evaluate whether the assistant's seniority influenced perioperative course. Between the years 2011-2015, 106 consecutive cases were retrieved and analyzed. Prostate weight was found to be associated with longer tOT (Spearman's ρ = 0.34, p < 0.001), ssOT (0.3, p < 0.01) and increased EBL (0.28, p < 0.01). Patient's age, BMI, associated comorbidities, and previous abdominal surgeries were found to have no influence on neither tOT, ssOT nor EBL. Three assistants' subgroups were identified (seniors, PGY 1-3, PGY 4-6). The assistant's seniority was found to have no influence on tOT, ssOT, EBL, immediate post-operative complications and LOS. Same results were obtained following prostate size adjustments. The assistant's seniority has no influence on perioperative course following RALP. Consequently, given a highly experienced primary surgeon, a less experienced assistant can be safely incorporated into this procedure.