Reducing laparoscopic radical prostatectomy false-positive margin rates using cyanoacrylate tissue glue.

BACKGROUND

Trauma to the prostate surface from laparoscopic instruments may have a role in creating false-positive margins during laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP).

OBJECTIVE

To determine the feasibility of using cyanoacrylate glue to repair iatrogenic lacerations and to evaluate the glue's effect on the positive surgical margin rates of LRP specimens.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We used porcine kidneys as a surrogate experimental tissue to help determine the quality, robustness, and adequacy of glued repairs in experimentally created lacerations. A matched control group of unrepaired kidney specimens and kidney specimens repaired with glue were subjected to full histopathologic processing. Exposure of a nephron to surface marker ink was considered to be a "positive margin." The efficacy and impact of glue repairs on LRP specimens that had sustained iatrogenic intraoperative surface trauma were also assessed.

MEASUREMENTS

We evaluated the success of glue repair in preventing subcapsular renal parenchymal staining. We also compared the rate of positive margins in LRP specimens with and without routine glue repair of the surface of the prostate.

RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS

The glue remained effective throughout the entire laboratory process and did not interfere with histopathologic assessment. As hypothesised, cyanoacrylate glue repair of the renal lacerations prevented staining of subcapsular tissues with marker dye and therefore prevented what might otherwise be considered false-positive staining. The rate of positive margins of the 40 LRP specimens without glue repair was 35%, compared with a rate of 10% for 40 glue-repaired specimens. The limitations of the study are that follow-up was short and that the prostatectomy specimens were compared with consecutive controls rather than with matched randomised controls.

CONCLUSIONS

Cyanoacrylate glue is a novel, inexpensive, and very effective prostate repair agent that does not interfere with histologic processing. It is possible to accurately repair iatrogenic prostate lacerations with cyanoacrylate glue and, in doing so, to considerably reduce the rate of spurious false-positive surgical margins.