Laparoscopic and robotic radical prostatectomy.

Radical retropubic prostatectomy is the current gold standard for surgical removal of the prostate gland. Recently, laparoscopic radical prostatectomy has been developed in an attempt to decrease surgical morbidity, and the technical difficulty of laparoscopy has been countered with the development of the da Vinci robotic interface. Studies that have compared the minimally invasive approaches with the traditional open approach have reported comparable perioperative outcomes. While long-term oncological data are available for open prostatectomy, there are only short-term studies available for laparoscopic prostatectomy. Functional outcomes, including urinary continence and sexual function, appear to be similar between the surgical approaches in the short term. However, currently, costs appear to favor open surgery, with the da Vinci-assisted prostatectomy having the highest expenses. Longer-term data are required to confidently determine the optimal balance between morbidity, oncological efficacy, functional outcomes and cost among the differing surgical approaches.