Objectives: In this decade, there have emerged many alternatives for the therapy of localized prostate cancer, such as brachytherapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, high intensity focused ultrasound, and retropubic radical prostatectomy. In this retrospective study, we reviewed cases of complications related to laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) from our institution only, and we evaluated whether this procedure was minimally invasive or not.
Methods: Between August 2000 and December 2006, a total of 160 patients in our institution underwent LRP as the definitive treatment for clinically localized prostate cancer. We analyzed not only the complications but also the operative time and blood loss to clarify the indications of LRP.
Results: Major complications were defined as those requiring surgical intervention including laparoscopic repair. A total of nine major complications (5.63%) occurred in six patients (3.75%). In a Cox regression analysis, the estimated blood loss (P = 0.0069) and neoadjuvant hormonal therapy (P = 0.0019) were significant predictors of long operative time (>6 h) of LRP.
Conclusion: The indication of LRP in this study was localized prostate cancer at the T1 or T2 stage for which neoadjuvant hormonal therapy had not been administered. We concluded that the operative and postoperative morbidities of LRP are low and that LRP can be routinely carried out by an experienced team.