Comparison of Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic and Mini-Laparotomy Radical Prostatectomy in Prostate Cancer Treatment in Taiwan

The incidence of prostate cancer in Taiwan has increased in recent years, possible because of better detection with screening methods, such as the measurement of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, transrectal ultrasonography, and magnetic resonance imaging. Most of the cases that are diagnosis early are operable and were, therefore, treated surgically. Historically, open radical prostatectomy (ORP) is the standard procedure to treat those patients surgically. However, as the robotic machine comes out, there is another option to treat localized prostate cancer. In this study, we retrospectively to compare the open radical prostatectomy and robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy. Thirty three patients received mini-laparotomy radical prostatectomy (MRP), which is a new technique in our hospital and 27 patients received robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RLRP). The days of hospital stay of MRP and RLRP were ten and eight days respectively. As we compared the results of the operation time, blood loss, catheterization’s duration, and length of hospital stay, and cost, we conclude that open radical prostatectomy should not be given up in the developing country. Those young urologists who want to learn the robotic laparoscopic surgery techniques should have the basic training of open radical prostatectomy.