Robot-assisted radical cystectomy with intracorporeal urinary diversion: a Danish 11-year series

To evaluate the oncological and perioperative outcomes from a large, single-centre, robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) cohort performed with intracorporeal urinary diversion (ICUD).

Patients who underwent RARC because of bladder cancer or recurrent carcinoma in situ from June 2009 until August 2020 at Herlev and Gentofte Hospital were prospectively and consecutively included. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to estimate recurrence-free survival (RFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS). A Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify individual predictors of outcomes. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of high-grade complications (Clavien-Dindo Grade ≥III).

A total of 542 patients were included. The median (interquartile range) follow-up was 5.3 (2.73-8.06) years. In all, 78 patients (14%) were converted to open surgery; 15 (3%) during cystectomy and 63 patients (12%) were converted from ICUD to extracorporeal urinary diversion. The 5-year RFS, CSS and OS rates were 63% (95% confidence interval [CI] 59%-68%), 75% (95% CI 72%-80%) and 67% (95% CI 63%-72%), respectively. Pathological non-organ-confined disease (tumour stage >T2 or positive lymph nodes) predicted poorer RFS, CSS and OS. Reconstruction with a neobladder (20% of cases) compared to an ileal conduit was the only predictor of high-grade complications (odds ratio 2.54, 95% CI 1.46-4.43; P < 0.001).

A RARC with ICUD is feasible as a standard surgical procedure for bladder cancer with only a few patients converted to open surgery. In our hands reconstruction with a neobladder was a strong predictor for high-grade complications.