Introduction: Radical cystectomy (RC) remains a surgery with important morbidity despite technical advances. Our aim was to determine the impact on outcomes and costs of robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) with full intracorporeal diversion.
Material and methods: We retrospectively included 196 consecutive patients undergone RC for bladder cancer between 2017 and 2022. Comparisons were done between the open radical cystectomy (ORC; n = 166) and RARC with full intracorporeal diversion (n = 30) in the overall cohort and after matched pair analysis.
Results: More neobladders were performed in the RARC group (40% vs 18.7%, p = 0.011). Peri-operative parameters continuously improved over time in the RARC cohort despite an increased proportion of elderly patients with higher comorbidity index. RARC patients had lower prolonged stay (33.3% vs 68.3%, p = 0.002), lower grade 1 complication rates (26.7% vs 53.3%, p = 0.016) and blood loss (185 vs 611 ml, p <0.001) than ORC patients. RARC was an independent favorable predictor for prolonged stay (OR 0.199) and complication (OR 0.334). Cost balance favored ORC, with an increase of hospitalization cost at 816 euros for RARC.
Conclusions: After matching, RARC with full intracorporeal diversion was associated with improved outcomes and a moderated increase of post-operative costs mainly due to the use of robotic devices.
Keywords: bladder cancer; cost; enhanced recovery after surgery; radical cystectomy; robot.
Copyright by Polish Urological Association.