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.

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.