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Editorial: Do live case demonstrations have a future in surgical education?

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The ever increasing desire for instant access to information is a reflection of our times facilitated by social networks and by video and information technology. Nowadays, sport events are dissected and quantified from every possible perspective. We know almost real-time any detail of a soccer match: how many miles each player runs, how many good or bad passages of play, how many faults and so on, including if needed the details of heart rate and weight loss. The same and even more is available for example in formula one racing. Theoretically the same could easily be applied to surgical performance and it is foreseeable it will be applied, as a self-performance improvement method and as a development of one of the most popular ‘scientific and educational’ activities during surgical meetings, live case demonstrations (LCDs). All this, together with simulation, could in the near future have a tremendous impact on surgical performance and training. Twitter and Instagram show the power of the immediate real-time diffusion of events, as condensed as possible, so that the tweet or the instantaneous image can be visible and digested without losing time. Video clips follow the same concept and certainly BJUI is pioneering the use of short surgical video clips that are easily accessible and usable at any spare time of a busy day.

The core issue about LCDs is that at present there is no solid scientific evidence of their educational value, and this is outlined in the paper by Elsamra et al. [1] published in this issue of BJUI, which commendably attempts to evaluate the educational benefit of LCDs in terms of perception, clearly not a very strong criterion.

Data about the outcomes of live surgery operations are scant. Clearly patient’s safety is the first goal of any surgical activity, and this applies to LCDs. As mentioned in the paper, the European Association of Urology (EAU) Executive felt the urgent need to establish procedures and regulations in order to endorse live surgery events. The reader can find all related information on the EAU website. These regulations are meant to be in the best interest of patients, surgeons and organisers. Among others, one important innovation is the requisite of a ‘patient advocate’ present during the LCD, being an experienced medical doctor, independent from the organising committee of the educational event, in charge of advising in case of unexpected events, which can endanger patient’s safety.

Moreover, the EAU has established a prospective database of all endorsed live surgery events. This will hopefully allow in a few years an answer, with solid data, to the question of whether an intervention performed during a live surgery event has the same outcome compared with the same intervention executed by the same surgeon in his usual environment. The more challenging goal is to quantify the educational value of a live surgical event and the jump from perception to scientific evidence is far from being an easy task.

Walter Artibani
Urologia – Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Integrata di Verona, Verona, Italy

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Reference

  1. Elsamra SE, Fakhoury M, Motato H et al. The surgical spectacle: a survey of urologists viewing live case demonstrations. BJU Int 2014; 113: 674–678
 

Article of the month: Targeting the androgen receptor

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Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying video of a lecture from Professor David Neal, filmed at the Society of Academic Research and Surgery: 2013 Annual Meeting.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one

The transcriptional programme of the androgen receptor (AR) in prostate cancer

Alastair D. Lamb, Charlie E. Massie and David E. Neal

Cambridge University Department of Urology, Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cambridge Institute, Cambridge, UK

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ABSTRACT

• The androgen receptor (AR) is essential for normal prostate and prostate cancer cell growth.

• AR transcriptional activity is almost always maintained even in hormone relapsed prostate cancer (HRPC) in the absence of normal levels of circulating testosterone.

• Current molecular techniques, such as chromatin-immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq), have permitted identification of direct AR-binding sites in cell lines and human tissue with a distinct coordinate network evident in HRPC.

• The effectiveness of novel agents, such as abiraterone acetate (suppresses adrenal androgens) or enzalutamide (MDV3100, potent AR antagonist), in treating advanced prostate cancer underlines the on-going critical role of the AR throughout all stages of the disease.

• Persistent AR activity in advanced disease regulates cell cycle activity, steroid biosynthesis and anabolic metabolism in conjunction with regulatory co-factors, such as the E2F family, c-Myc and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) transcription factors. Further treatment approaches must target these other factors.

LINK TO VIDEO

Lecture filmed at the Society of Academic Research and Surgery: 2013 Annual Meeting. Video available from The Royal Society of Medicine https://www.rsmvideos.com/videoPlayer/?vid=340

 

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Article of the Month: The Melbourne Consensus Statement

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Every month the Editor-in-Chief selects an Article of the Month from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, we feature a video from Tony Costello and Declan Murphy discussing the Melbourne Statement.

If you only have time to read one article this month, it should be this one.

The Melbourne Consensus Statement on the early detection of prostate cancer

Declan G. Murphy1,2,3, Thomas Ahlering4, William J. Catalona5, Helen Crowe2,3, Jane Crowe3, Noel Clarke10, Matthew Cooperberg6, David Gillatt11, Martin Gleave12, Stacy Loeb7, Monique Roobol14, Oliver Sartor8, Tom Pickles13, Addie Wootten3, Patrick C. Walsh9 and Anthony J. Costello2,3

1Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, 2Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne, 3Epworth Prostate Centre, Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre, Epworth Healthcare Richmond, Melbourne, Vic., Australia, 4School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, 5Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 6Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Centre, University of California, San Francisco, 7New York University, 8Tulane University School of Medicine, Tulane, 9The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, USA, 10The Christie Hospital, Manchester University, Manchester, 11Bristol Urological Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, 12The Vancouver Prostate Centre, 13BC Cancer Agency, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and 14Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

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• Various conflicting guidelines and recommendations about prostate cancer screening and early detection have left both clinicians and their patients quite confused. At the Prostate Cancer World Congress held in Melbourne in August 2013, a multidisciplinary group of the world’s leading experts in this area gathered together and generated this set of consensus statements to bring some clarity to this confusion.

• The five consensus statements provide clear guidance for clinicians counselling their patients about the early detection of prostate cancer.

 

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Video: Why the Melbourne Statement?

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The Melbourne Consensus Statement on the early detection of prostate cancer

Declan G. Murphy1,2,3, Thomas Ahlering4, William J. Catalona5, Helen Crowe2,3, Jane Crowe3, Noel Clarke10, Matthew Cooperberg6, David Gillatt11, Martin Gleave12, Stacy Loeb7, Monique Roobol14, Oliver Sartor8, Tom Pickles13, Addie Wootten3, Patrick C. Walsh9 and Anthony J. Costello2,3

1Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, 2Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne, 3Epworth Prostate Centre, Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre, Epworth Healthcare Richmond, Melbourne, Vic., Australia, 4School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, 5Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 6Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Centre, University of California, San Francisco, 7New York University, 8Tulane University School of Medicine, Tulane, 9The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, USA, 10The Christie Hospital, Manchester University, Manchester, 11Bristol Urological Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, 12The Vancouver Prostate Centre, 13BC Cancer Agency, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and 14Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Read the full article

• Various conflicting guidelines and recommendations about prostate cancer screening and early detection have left both clinicians and their patients quite confused. At the Prostate Cancer World Congress held in Melbourne in August 2013, a multidisciplinary group of the world’s leading experts in this area gathered together and generated this set of consensus statements to bring some clarity to this confusion.

• The five consensus statements provide clear guidance for clinicians counselling their patients about the early detection of prostate cancer.

 

Article of the Month: HIV no barrier to circumcision

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Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post. 

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial written by prominent members of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

This month our lead article on HIV and circumcision comes from Uganda. The front cover of January’s issue shows the Nile at Lake Victoria in Uganda. If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one in the real world there are only two types and cost of these HIV tests is different read below to understand the difference.

Male circumcision wound healing in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative and HIV-positive men in Rakai, Uganda

Godfrey Kigozi*, Richard Musoke*, Nehemiah Kighoma*, Stephen Watya*†, David Serwadda*‡, Fred Nalugoda*, Noah Kiwanuka‡, James Nkale*, Fred Wabwire-Mangen‡, Frederick Makumbi*‡, Nelson K. Sewankambo§, Ronald H. Gray* and Maria J. Wawer*

*Rakai Health Sciences Program, Entebbe, †Urocare, ‡School of Public Health, Makerere University, and §College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, and ¶Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

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OBJECTIVE

• To assess completed wound healing after medical male circumcision (MMC) among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative and HIV-positive men with cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) counts of <350 and ≥350 cells/mm3, as minimal data are available on the safety of MMC among HIV-positive men with low CD4 counts.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

• In all, 262 HIV-negative and 177 HIV-positive consenting males aged ≥12 years accepted MMC using the dorsal slit procedure and were enrolled in the study.

• Socio-demographic and behavioural data and blood for HIV testing and CD4 counts were collected at baseline.

• Participants were followed weekly to collect information on resumption of sex, condom use and both self-reported and clinically assessed wound healing.

• The proportions healed among HIV-positive men were compared with HIV-negative men. Time to complete wound healing was assessed by Kaplan–Meier survival analysis.

RESULTS

• There were no statistically significant differences in the proportion of men healed by HIV status.

• At 4 weeks, the proportions healed were 85.9% in HIV-negative men, 77.4% in HIV-positive men with a CD4 count of ≥350 cells/mm3and 87.1% in HIV-positive men with a CD4 count of <350 cells/mm3.

• The median time to healing was 4 weeks and did not vary by HIV or CD4 status.

• All men had certified complete wound healing at 6 weeks after MMC. In all, 1.4% of HIV-positive men with a CD4 count of <350 cells/mm3 resumed sex before healing, compared with 8.5% among HIV-positive men with a CD4 count of ≥350 cells/mm3 (P = 0.052) and 7.8% (P = 0.081) among HIV-negative men.

CONCLUSION

• Inclusion of HIV-positive men with low CD4 counts in MMC services is not deleterious to postoperative wound healing.

 

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Editorial: Circumcision – follow-up or not?

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There is an excellent study from Uganda in this issue of the BJUI [1]. It looks at the rate of healing of men undergoing prophylactic circumcision. Some had HIV; others not. What they termed ‘complete wound healing’ was an intact scar without a scab, sutures or a sinus – effectively a ‘sealed’ wound. There are several useful data therein:

  • all men had healed by 6 weeks; the median being 4 weeks.
  • HIV status did not appear to delay wound healing, even with low CD4 counts.
  • the patient was 95% likely to judge wound healing correctly himself.
  • routine circumcision can be safely carried out by trained medical officers.
  • a complication rate of 0.5% was reported.

So what follow-up, if any, is necessary after circumcision? Based on this population it would appear that a well instructed/consented patient can be relied on to judge healing after prophylactic circumcision. They probably do not need follow-up provided their expectations are managed well, and there is ease of access to return should problems arise.

However, this may not be generalizable to men having circumcision for phimosis or other abnormality of foreskin. These patients may have delayed healing, meatal issues or a urethral stricture upstream. Histopathological examination of abnormal foreskins is sensible also as further treatment/follow-up may indicated.

I recommend a read of this superb paper.

Paul K. Hegarty
Consultant Urological Surgeon, Mater Private, Cork, Ireland

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Article of the month: Seeing the light: HAL-PDD does not lead to lower recurrence rates of bladder tumours

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Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial written by prominent members of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

Finally, the third post under the Article of the Week heading on the homepage will consist of additional material or media. This week we feature a video from T. O’Brien and K. Thomas summarising their paper.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one.

Prospective randomized trial of hexylaminolevulinate photodynamic-assisted transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) plus single-shot intravesical mitomycin C vs conventional white-light TURBT plus mitomycin C in newly presenting non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Timothy O’Brien, Eleanor Ray, Kathryn Chatterton, Muhammad Shamim Khan, Ashish Chandra and Kay Thomas

Urology Centre, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

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OBJECTIVE

• To determine if photodynamic ‘blue-light’-assisted resection leads to lower recurrence rates in newly presenting non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

• We conducted a prospective randomized trial of hexylaminolevulinate (HAL) photodynamic diagnosis (PDD)-assisted transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) plus single-shot intravesical mitomycin C vs standard white-light-assisted TURBT plus single-shot intravesical mitomycin C.

• A total of 249 patients with newly presenting suspected NMIBC enrolled at Guy’s Hospital between March 2005 and April 2010. Patients with a history of bladder cancer were excluded.

• The surgery was performed by specialist bladder cancer surgical teams.

• Of the eligible patients, 90% agreed to be randomized.

RESULTS

• Of the 249 patients, 209 (84%) had cancer and in 185 patients (89%) the cancer was diagnosed as NMIBC.

• There were no adverse events related to HAL in any of the patients randomized to the intravesical HAL-PDD arm.

• Single-shot intravesical mitomycin C was administered to 61/97 patients (63%) in the HAL-PDD arm compared with 68/88 patients (77%) in the white-light arm (P = 0.04)

• Intravesical HAL was an effective diagnostic tool for occult carcinoma in situ (CIS). Secondary CIS was identified in 25/97 patients (26%) in the HAL-PDD arm compared with 12/88 patients (14%) in the white-light arm (P = 0.04)

• There was no significant difference in recurrence between the two arms at 3 or 12 months: in the HAL-PDD and the white-light arms recurrence was found in 17/86 and 14/82 patients (20 vs 17%), respectively (P = 0.7) at 3 months, and in 10/63 and 15/67 patients (16 vs 22%), respectively (P = 0.4) at 12 months.

CONCLUSION

• Despite HAL-PDD offering a more accurate diagnostic assessment of a bladder tumour, in this trial we did not show that this led to lower recurrence rates of newly presenting NMIBC compared with the best current standard of care.

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Editorial: Does HAL assistance improve outcomes in patients who receive postoperative intravesical therapy?

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There is growing evidence that hexaminolevulinate (HAL) fluorescence cystoscopy increases detection of bladder cancer at the time of transurethral resection of bladder tumours (TURBT) and that this results in lower recurrence rates [1, 2]. One limitation in many prior studies was the lack of standardisation about the use of immediate postoperative chemotherapy, which has been shown to reduce recurrence in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer [3]. This raises the question of whether the benefit of HAL in reducing recurrences would be eliminated if patients did in fact receive postoperative intravesical chemotherapy, which would help eradicate any missed residual tumour.

There have been several studies that attempt to bring clarity to this issue. A study by Geavlete et al. [4] randomised 362 patients suspected of having bladder cancer to HAL vs white-light (WL) TURBT with a single postoperative mitomycin C instillation given in all cases. The authors found that the recurrence rate at 3 months was lower in the HAL group (7.2% vs 15.8%) due to fewer ‘other site’ recurrences when compared with the WL group. There continued to be an advantage for the HAL group with lower 1- and 2-year recurrence rates compared with the WL group (21.6% vs 32.5% and 31.2% vs 45.6%, respectively). The study did not stratify patients specifically to those with low-grade non-invasive tumours but patients with single tumors had a trend toward less recurrence (23.3% vs 35.3%, P = 0.064).

Grossman et al. [2] published the long-term follow-up for 551 patients enrolled in a prospective, randomised study of HAL vs WL for Ta or T1 urothelial bladder cancer with similar rates of intravesical therapy in the two groups (46% and 45%, respectively). They found that the median time to recurrence was 9.4 months in the WL group and 16.4 months in the HAL group (P = 0.04) but they did not report specifically on patients who received postoperative intravesical therapy. A meta-analysis of raw data from prospective studies on 1345 patients with suspected bladder cancer evaluating HAL-assisted cystoscopy vs WL found that both patients with low- and high-risk disease had statistically significant lower recurrence rates [1]. This meta-analysis was unable to stratify based on use of postoperative intravesical therapy.

O’Brien et al. [5] performed a randomised prospective study of HAL-assisted vs conventional WL TURBT, with all patients scheduled to get a single treatment of postoperative intravesical mitomycin C. There were 86 and 82 patients with cancer in the HAL and WL groups who completed the 12 months follow-up, respectively. In this study, 63% and 77% of the HAL and WL patients received mitomycin C, respectively. There was an increased detection of carcinoma in situ (CIS) in the HAL group (26% vs 14%) but no significant difference in recurrence at 3 and 12 months. When stratifying by low-grade tumours, the 3-month recurrence rates for HAL and WL were 19% vs 9% and at 12 months were 16% vs 22%, so that no significant differences were noted but the study was not powered to evaluate this subgrouping.

What can be concluded then about whether HAL assistance improves outcomes in patients who receive postoperative intravesical therapy? It appears the results are inconclusive and this is not surprising. The risk reduction of postoperative intravesical chemotherapy is primarily limited to patients with a single low-grade papillary tumour and one would need to treat 8.5 patients with peri-TUR chemotherapy to prevent one recurrence [3]. The benefits of peri-TUR chemotherapy in patients at intermediate- and high-risk are not well established [6]. Most of the studies of HAL-assisted TUR have not treated with postoperative intravesical therapy systematically. The studies that have tried to uniformly give postoperative therapy have not been sufficiently powered to evaluate those patients most likely to benefit, namely low-grade non-invasive cancer. As such, one cannot determine whether the benefit of potentially detecting additional low-grade tumours by HAL in patients with low-risk disease could be matched by postoperative intravesical therapy and such a study would require a very large number of low-grade solitary papillary tumours. However, it would minimise the benefits of HAL to focus on the benefit in the lowest risk patients. A meta-analysis of randomised trials found that HAL reduced the risk of recurrence independent of level of risk, such that there was reduced recurrence in patients with CIS, T1 and high-grade disease [1]. These are patients for which immediate postoperative intravesical therapy has shown minimal benefit and for which the benefit of HAL cannot be explained away. Furthermore a small but meaningful number of low-risk patients can be found to have intermediate- or high-risk disease, which would change their subsequent management [4]. As such if one had to choose between approaches rather than apply both, the use of HAL would appear to result in a greater benefit in managing patients with bladder cancer.

Yair Lotan
Department of Urology, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA

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References

  1. Burger M, Grossman HB, Droller M et al. Photodynamic diagnosis of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer with hexaminolevulinate cystoscopy: a meta-analysis of detection and recurrence based on raw data. Eur Urol 2013; 64: 846-54
  2. Grossman HB, Stenzl A, Fradet Y et al. Long-term decrease in bladder cancer recurrence with hexaminolevulinate enabled fluorescence cystoscopy. J Urol 2012; 188: 58–62
  3. Sylvester RJ, Oosterlinck W, van der Meijden AP. A single immediate postoperative instillation of chemotherapy decreases the risk of recurrence in patients with stage Ta T1 bladder cancer: a meta-analysis of published results of randomized clinical trials. J Urol 2004; 171: 2186–2190
  4. Geavlete B, Multescu R, Georgescu D, Jecu M, Stanescu F, Geavlete P. Treatment changes and long-term recurrence rates after hexaminolevulinate (HAL) fluorescence cystoscopy: does it really make a difference in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC)? BJU Int 2012; 109: 549–556
  5. O’Brien T, Ray E, Chatterton K, Khan S, Chandra A, Thomas K. Prospective randomized trial of hexylaminolevulinate photodynamic-assisted transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) plus single-shot intravesical mitomycin C vs conventional white-light TURBT plus mitomycin C in newly presenting non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. BJU Int 2013; 112:1096–1104
  6. Kamat AM, Lotan YR. Perioperative intravesical therapy after transurethral resection for bladder cancer. J Urol 2010; 183: 19–20

Video: The two sides of blue light TURBT: better assessment but no lower recurrence rates

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Prospective randomized trial of hexylaminolevulinate photodynamic-assisted transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) plus single-shot intravesical mitomycin C vs conventional white-light TURBT plus mitomycin C in newly presenting non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Timothy O’Brien, Eleanor Ray, Kathryn Chatterton, Muhammad Shamim Khan, Ashish Chandra and Kay Thomas

Urology Centre, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

Read the full article
OBJECTIVE

• To determine if photodynamic ‘blue-light’-assisted resection leads to lower recurrence rates in newly presenting non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

• We conducted a prospective randomized trial of hexylaminolevulinate (HAL) photodynamic diagnosis (PDD)-assisted transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) plus single-shot intravesical mitomycin C vs standard white-light-assisted TURBT plus single-shot intravesical mitomycin C.

• A total of 249 patients with newly presenting suspected NMIBC enrolled at Guy’s Hospital between March 2005 and April 2010. Patients with a history of bladder cancer were excluded.

• The surgery was performed by specialist bladder cancer surgical teams.

• Of the eligible patients, 90% agreed to be randomized.

RESULTS

• Of the 249 patients, 209 (84%) had cancer and in 185 patients (89%) the cancer was diagnosed as NMIBC.

• There were no adverse events related to HAL in any of the patients randomized to the intravesical HAL-PDD arm.

• Single-shot intravesical mitomycin C was administered to 61/97 patients (63%) in the HAL-PDD arm compared with 68/88 patients (77%) in the white-light arm (P = 0.04)

• Intravesical HAL was an effective diagnostic tool for occult carcinoma in situ (CIS). Secondary CIS was identified in 25/97 patients (26%) in the HAL-PDD arm compared with 12/88 patients (14%) in the white-light arm (P = 0.04)

• There was no significant difference in recurrence between the two arms at 3 or 12 months: in the HAL-PDD and the white-light arms recurrence was found in 17/86 and 14/82 patients (20 vs 17%), respectively (P = 0.7) at 3 months, and in 10/63 and 15/67 patients (16 vs 22%), respectively (P = 0.4) at 12 months.

CONCLUSION

• Despite HAL-PDD offering a more accurate diagnostic assessment of a bladder tumour, in this trial we did not show that this led to lower recurrence rates of newly presenting NMIBC compared with the best current standard of care.

Article of the month: The race to urinary continence after RP

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Every week the Editor-in-Chief selects the Article of the Week from the current issue of BJUI. The abstract is reproduced below and you can click on the button to read the full article, which is freely available to all readers for at least 30 days from the time of this post.

In addition to the article itself, there is an accompanying editorial written by prominent members of the urological community. This blog is intended to provoke comment and discussion and we invite you to use the comment tools at the bottom of each post to join the conversation.

Finally, the third post under the Article of the Week heading on the homepage will consist of additional material or media. This week we feature a video of Inge Geraerts discussing functional outcomes after ORP and RARP.

If you only have time to read one article this week, it should be this one.

Prospective evaluation of urinary incontinence, voiding symptoms and quality of life after open and robot-assisted radical prostatectomy

Inge Geraerts*, Hendrik Van Poppel†, Nele Devoogdt*‡, Ben Van Cleynenbreugel†, Steven Joniau† and Marijke Van Kampen*‡

Departments of *Rehabilitation Science, †Urology and ‡Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, UZ Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Read the full article
OBJECTIVE

• To compare functional outcomes, i.e. urinary incontinence (UI), voiding symptoms and quality of life, after open (ORP) and robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

• Between September 2009 and July 2011, 180 consecutive patients underwent radical prostatectomy; of these, 116 underwent ORP and 64 underwent RARP. We prospectively assessed the functional outcomes of each group during the first year of follow-up.

• We measured UI on the 3 days before surgery (24-h pad test) and daily after surgery until total continence, defined as 3 consecutive days of 0 g urine leak, was achieved. Additionally, all patients were assessed before surgery and at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and the King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ).

• All patients received pelvic floor muscle training until continence was achieved.

• Kaplan–Meier analyses and Cox regression with correction for covariates were used to compare time to continence. A Mann–Whitney U-test was used to assess IPSS and KHQ.

RESULTS

• Patients in the RARP group had a significantly lower D’Amico risk group allocation and underwent more nerve-sparing surgery. Other characteristics were similar.

• Patients in the RARP group regained continence sooner than those in the ORP group (P = 0.007). In the RARP group, the median time to continence (16 vs 46 days, P = 0.026) was significantly shorter and the median amount of first day UI (44 vs 186 g, P < 0.01) was significantly smaller than in the ORP group. After correction for all covariates, the difference remained significant (P = 0.036, hazard ratio [HR] 1.522 (1.027–2.255). In addition, younger men, men with positive surgical margins and men without preoperative incontinence achieved continence sooner.

• A comparison of time to continence between groups with a sufficient number of patients (intermediate risk and/or bilateral nerve-sparing) still showed a faster return of continence after RARP, but the effect decreased in size and was nonsignificant (HR>1.2, P> 0.05).

• Only six patients (two in the RARP and four in the ORP group) still had UI after 1 year.• Patients in the RARP group had significantly better IPSS scores at 1 (P = 0.013) and 3 (P = 0.038) months, and scored better in almost all KHQ aspects.

CONCLUSION

• In this prospective trial, patients treated with RARP tended to regain urinary continence sooner than patients treated with ORP, but in subgroup analyses statistical significance disappeared and effect size decreased dramatically, indicating that the results must be interpreted with caution.

 

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