Longitudinal urgency outcomes following robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a well-known adverse outcome following robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP). Although postoperative SUI has been extensively studied, little focus has been placed on understanding the natural history and impact of urgency symptoms following RALP. The UVA prostatectomy functional outcomes program (PFOP) was developed to comprehensively assess and optimize continence outcomes following RALP. The present study focuses on assessing urgency outcomes in this cohort.

PFOP patients with a minimum of 6-months follow up following RALP were included. The PFOP includes prospectively assessed incontinence and quality of life outcomes utilizing ICIQ-MLUTS, Urgency Perception Score (UPS), and IIQ-7 questionnaires. The primary study outcome was urgency urinary incontinence (UUI) as determined by ICIQ-MLUTS UUI domain. Secondary outcomes included urgency (UPS score) and quality of life (IIQ-7).

Forty patients were included with median age 63.5 years. Fourteen (35%) patients reported UUI at baseline. UUI and QOL scores worsened compared to baseline at all time-points. Urgency worsened at 3-weeks and 3-months but returned to baseline by 6-months. Notably, 63% of patients without baseline UUI reported de-novo UUI at 6 months. Although QOL was lower in patients with versus without UUI (IIQ-7 score 3.0 vs 0.0, p = 0.009), severity of UUI was not associated with QOL when controlling for SUI severity.

Our data demonstrate significantly worsened UUI from baseline and a large incidence of de-novo UUI following RALP. Further study is needed to inform how urgency and UUI and its treatment affect health-related quality of life following RALP.