Oncological results at 2 years after robotic radical prostatectomy – the Romanian experience

INTRODUCTION: To assess the oncological outcomes of robotic radical prostatectomy in a country where there are no on-going national screening programs for prostate cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between November 2009 and November 2014, 220 robotic radical prostatectomies were performed at our Robotic Surgery Center. We already have the complete data for the 2-year follow-up of the first 105 patients, who were therefore included in the study group. Pre-operative (age, prostate-specific antigen, body-mass index, prostate volume, clinical staging, biopsy characteristics), post-operative (surgical technique, surgical margin status, lymph node status, pathological stage, Gleason score) and follow-up parameters (biochemical recurrence) were assessed. RESULTS: The global rate of positive surgical margins was 34.3%, with rates of 17.2% in stage pT2 and 55.3% in stage pT3. The most frequent localization for positive surgical margins was at the base and apex of the prostate. The positive surgical margins rate was correlated with the pre-operative prostate-specific antigen, clinical and pathological Gleason score, lymph node status and the number of positive biopsy cores. The rate of biochemical recurrence at the 2-year follow-up was 11.8%. The most important predictors for the biochemical recurrence were the positive surgical margins, pathological staging and Gleason score on the prostatectomy specimen. CONCLUSIONS: Robotic surgery is validated by the oncological results at medium follow-up (2 years) for localized and locally advanced prostate cancer, even in countries where there is no on-going national screening program.