Robot-assisted laparoscopic transvesical diverticulectomy and simple prostatectomy

Abstract

Acquired bladder diverticula are often associated with bladder outlet obstruction (BOO). The increased voiding pressures required to overcome the BOO attenuate the detrusor and promote formation of diverticula. These patients may develop urinary tract infections, bladder stones, and incomplete bladder emptying. Effective treatment must address both the bladder diverticula and BOO. Reports of laparoscopic bladder diverticulectomy with concurrent transurethral resection of the prostate have demonstrated the feasibility of this minimally invasive approach. However, due to longer operative times and technical difficulty of the procedure, the gold-standard treatment remains the open surgical approach of bladder diverticulectomy and transvesical prostatectomy. With the advent of robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery, application of open surgical principles is increasingly translated to the minimally invasive laparoscopic approach. We report, to our knowledge, the first case of robot-assisted laparoscopic transvesical diverticulectomy and concurrent transvesical simple prostatectomy.

Keywords: Benign prostatic hyperplasia; Bladder diverticulectomy; Bladder diverticulum; Laparoscopy; Robot.