Balancing continence function and oncological outcomes during robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP)

Abstract

• A critical point in the evaluation of the radical prostatectomy (RP) outcomes is whether patients who obtain good cancer control also obtain good functional results. • Specifically, urinary continence recovery seems to have a more relevant impact on the patient's health-related quality of life in comparison with potency recovery. Moreover, this functional outcome is relevant for all patients who underwent RP regardless of the execution of a nerve-sparing approach to preserve potency. • Data coming from robot-assisted RP (RARP) series show excellent results for early and definitive urinary continence recovery and for negative surgical margins. Unfortunately, no data are available about the combination of these two relevant outcomes after RARP. • In this review article, we describe our surgical technique to minimize the risk of urinary incontinence and positive surgical margins and summarize data concerning continence recovery and early oncological outcomes after RARP.