
A study published in BJU
International reports that long-term survival rates following laparoscopic
surgery for bladder cancer are on par with those of open surgery. The findings,
which come from the largest study to date with long-term follow-up after this
type of minimally invasive surgery, indicate that prospective randomized trials
comparing these two bladder cancer surgeries are warranted.
Open radical cystectomy or
removal of the bladder through open surgery, is the treatment of choice for
muscle invasive and high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. However, the
surgery can lead to serious complications. Some hospitals are using minimally
invasive procedures such as laparoscopic radical cystectomy, but there is
little information on the effectiveness of these procedures for preventing
cancer recurrence over the long term.
To address this, the European Association of Urology (EAU)-section of Uro-technology has been building a large database of laparoscopic radical cystectomy procedures performed across Europe. When exploring this database, an international team led by Simone Albisinni, MD and Roland van Velthoven, MD, PhD, of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, found that laparoscopic radical cystectomy can lead to reliable cancer control even many years after surgery. After 5 years, 66 percent of patients had no signs of bladder cancer recurrence and among those followed for 10 years, 62 percent had no signs of recurrence.
The authors noted that there is growing interest for robotic-assisted radical cystectomy, another minimally invasive procedure, in the international community as well; however, many hospitals in Europe do not own a robot. Laparoscopic equipment, on the other hand, is more widely available. "As such, this data represents crucial information for urologists who are performing laparoscopic surgery, or who wish to implement laparoscopic cystectomy in their departments. In spite of the technical difficulty and the need for a learning curve, these findings support the use of a laparoscopic approach for the management of bladder cancer," said Dr. Albisinni.
Source: Medindia
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