Objective: The standard care for invasive bladder cancer is radical cystectomy with urinary diversion, but laparoscopic radical cystectomy (LRC) is still being evaluated. We describe our initial experience of laparoscopic radical cystectomy compared to open radical cystectomy (ORC).
Patients and methods: From January 2000 to June 2012, 84 patients underwent radical cystectomy by ORC (n = 54) or LRC (n = 30). Treatment outcomes including surgical and oncological outcomes between LRC and ORC were compared. We also assessed learning curve during LRC as to blood loss, operating time and complication rate.
Results: The patients' characteristics were similar in LRC and ORC groups except for ASA score. Importantly, Operating time during LRC was longer but complication rate of LRC was lower than that of ORC (586 min vs 424 min and 40% vs 69%, respectively). In addition, pathological stage or outcomes were similar in both groups and there were no significant difference between LRC and ORC groups in terms of overall and recurrence free survival rate. As for learning curve of LRC, operating time and blood loss tended to decrease with increased experience.
Conclusion: These results indicate that LRC could be performed safely with decreased complication rate and similar oncological outcomes compared to ORC.