[Predictive Factor of Urinary Continence after Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy]

We examined the postoperative urinary continence rate, and preoperative and postoperative factors predicting postoperative urinary continence for patients who underwent robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RARP) at our hospital. In all, 122 patients who received RARP were retrospectively analyzed. All patients answered a questionnaire to evaluate the urinary condition and also had a follow-up period of 6 months or longer after surgery. We defined urinary continence to be the use of 1 pad per day or less, including a safety pad. Membranous urethral length (MUL) was measured using sagittal sections of T1-weighted MRI. Postoperative urinary incontinence rates were 48.7, 72.4, 82.6 and 86.8% at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after surgery, respectively. MUL was a significant predictive factor of urinary continence at 6 months after surgery (p<0.01). We examined the factors predicting the urinary continence recovery at 6 months after surgery, including only patients who did not obtain urinary continence at 1 month after surgery. Two factors, MUL of 11 mm or longer and two pads per day at 1 month after surgery, were significant predictive factors of urinary continence recovery at 6 months after surgery (P=0.02, P=0.04). Patients who had a long MUL could easily obtain urinary continence after RARP compared to those with a short MUL. Most patients with a long MUL and with use of 2 pads per day at 1 month after surgery could obtain urinary continence at 6 months after surgery, even if they had urinary incontinence at 1 month after surgery.