Posterior reconstruction and anterior suspension with single anastomotic suture in robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: a simple method to improve early return of continence

Post-prostatectomy urinary incontinence is a major cause of morbidity from radical prostatectomy. Efforts have been made to develop techniques to hasten return of urinary control. Several authors have demonstrated improved early continence with anterior, posterior, or combined reconstruction of the urethral–pelvic attachments. In this study, we compare three-month urinary function and continence data for patients who underwent RALP with posterior reconstruction and anterior suspension with single anastomotic suture (PRASS). A prospective cohort of 50 patients underwent RALP with PRASS reconstruction and were compared to 50 control patients who underwent standard RALP. Continence was defined as use of 0–1 urinary pads and was evaluated at each follow-up visit using the EPIC-26 questionnaire. A weighted summary score was created and group differences were compared using a repeated measures analysis of variance model. After adjusting for age, baseline AUA symptom score, and SHIM scores, which were found to correlate with continence, patients who underwent the PRASS reconstruction had significantly improved urinary control at three months compared with the control group; 90.9% of the patients in the PRASS group wore 0–1 pads per day versus 48.2% in the control group (P = 0.014). Of the patients undergoing the standard prostatectomy 20.6% were totally pad-free compared with 42% of the patients undergoing the PRASS procedure (P = 0.042). In conclusion, the PRASS technique resulted in statistically significant improvement in urinary control three months post-operation. The PRASS reconstruction is technically straightforward, requires no additional sutures, and is a simple technique that is easily learned and adaptable to other robotic surgery.