Perioperative, oncological, and survival outcomes of robotic radical cystectomy with urinary diversion in females: A single-center retrospective observational study

INTRODUCTION: Robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) is a standrad approach for surgical management of bladder cancer. Currently, most literature on RARC is in men, possibly due to the higher incidence of bladder cancer in males. We reviewed the perioperative, oncological and survival outcomes in 41 women who underwent RARC by a single surgeon at a tertiary health-care center. METHODS: Out of 225 RARC and urinary diversion procedures performed from 2012 to 2020, a retrospective analysis of 41 women was performed. Baseline demographic and perioperative details, oncological data, and survival were recorded and analyzed. Kaplan–Meir analysis was done for survival outcomes and prognostic factors were assessed by log rank test. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients underwent intracorporeal urinary diversion, while three underwent extracorporeal diversion. One patient underwent organ preserving cystectomy. Clavien–Dindo 30-day postoperative complications were Grade I in 8 (19.5%), Grade II in 4 (9.8%), and Grade IIIa in 3 (7.3%) patients with no mortality. During the median follow-up of 34 months (range: 6–87 months), 7 patients died of disease recurrence. Five-year survival was 74% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 59–82) and 35% (95% CI: 10–91) in transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) and non-TCC group, respectively, with P = 0.04. There was no mortality in Stages 0 and 1 disease. Five-year survival was 78% in Stage 2 and 41% in Stage 3 and 4. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates acceptable clinical, perioperative, and oncological outcomes of robotic radical cystectomy in females, thus highlighting its safety and feasibility.