Laparoscopic Radical Cystectomy with Orthotopic Ileal Neobladder for Bladder Cancer: Oncologic Results of 171 Cases With a Median 3-Year Follow-up

Background: Radical cystectomy (RC) with pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) is the standard treatment for muscle-invasive and high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (BCa). Large series with long-term oncologic data after laparoscopic RC (LRC) are rare. Objective: To report oncologic outcomes of LRC for 171 cases with a median 3-yr follow-up. Objective: To report oncologic outcomes of LRC for 171 cases with a median 3-yr follow-up. Design, setting, and participants: From December 2002 to June 2009, 171 consecutive patients with BCa who underwent LRC with orthotopic ileal neobladder (OIN) at our institution were enrolled in this retrospective study. Intervention: All patients underwent LRC OIN. Adjuvant chemotherapy was administered to patients with non-organ-confined disease or positive lymph nodes. Measurements: The demographic, perioperative, complication, pathologic, and survival data were collected and analysed. Results and limitations: Most tumours were transitional cell carcinoma (TCC; 160, 93.6%). Tumours were organ confined in 113 patients (pT1-T2; 66.1%) and non-organ confined in 58 patients (pT3-T4a; 33.9%). There was involvement of the lymph nodes in 38 patients (22.2%). Surgical margins were all tumour free. The mean number of removed lymph nodes was 16(5-46). Follow-up ranged from 3 to 83 mo, and 54 (31.6%) patients completed 5-yr follow-up. Two patients (1.2%) had local recurrence and distant metastasis, 9 patients (5.3%) had local recurrence alone, and 23 patients (13.5%) had distant metastasis. One patient (0.6%) had port-site seeding. One hundred twenty-four patients (72.5%) were alive with no evidence of recurrence; 28 patients (16.4%) died, 20 from metastasis and 8 from tumour-unrelated causes. The estimated 5-yr overall survival, cancer-specific survival, and recurrence-free survival rates were 73.7%, 81.3%, and 72.6%, respectively. The relatively low percentage of patients reaching 5-yr follow-up is a limitation of this retrospective study. Conclusions: Surgical technique of LRC with OIN can achieve the established oncologic criteria of open surgery, and our oncologic outcome is encouraging. Long-term follow-up is needed for further confirmation. (C) 2010 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.