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Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Retzius-Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy
Published on: May 19, 2022
Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy training: Description of a canine cadaveric model
Antoine Jamet1, Nicolas Hubert2, Jérôme Maire3,4
1Department of Urology, CHRU Nancy Brabois University Hospital, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
Background:
Assess the relevance of a canine model in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) training.
Methods:
Step-by-step RARP was performed in five dog cadavers using a Da Vinci Si® Surgical Robot (Intuitive Surgical, Inc.). The steps were defined according to the RARP score, a validated training tool describing 17 key steps and four levels of difficulty; each step was scored to reflect the anatomical and technical similarities, realism of dissection, and face validity of the canine model compared to the human procedure.
Results:
Fourteen steps were performed during each procedure. Face validity was scored as high or very high for five of the nine steps of difficulty levels 1 and 2 as well as five of the eight steps of difficulty levels 3 and 4, especially nerve preservation, vesicourethral anastomosis and lymph node dissection.
Conclusions:
The cadaveric canine model seems to be a realistic and relevant training model for key steps of RARP.

