European Urology

Abstract

Background

Patients with newly diagnosed localized prostate cancer who choose surgery want cure and decent quality of life, namely, pad-free urinary control and, often, erectile function satisfactory for sexual intercourse.

Objective

Determine in a prospective study the positive surgical margin rate and functional outcomes for a consecutive series of patients undergoing open radical retropubic prostatectomy (ORRP) with bilateral neurovascular bundle preservation (BNVBP) performed by one experienced surgeon.

Design, setting, and participants

Of 197 consecutive patients undergoing BNVBP during 2008, 123 were evaluable, allowing both immediate postoperative phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibition (PDE5i) and a third-party questionnaire with validated urinary and erectile function domains provided preoperatively and at 3, 6, and 12 mo postoperatively.

Intervention

Two interventions were used: (1) ORRP with ×4.3 optical loupes and constant digital tactile monitoring during BNVBP preceded by high anterior release (HAR) of levator fascia and neurovascular bundles and (2) early postoperative PDE5i.

Measurements

Age; biopsy Gleason score; clinical stage; preoperative prostate-specific antigen level; pathologic grade; stage; margin status; University of California, Los Angeles Prostate Cancer Index domain for urinary pad use and bother; and International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) were used.

Results and limitations

Surgical margins were positive in 1 of the 123 evaluable patients (1%). At 1 yr, 95% of patients were pad-free. Satisfactory erectile function was achieved by 109 patients (89%): 82 (67%) scored an IIEF-5 of 22–25, and 27 (22%) scored <22–25 with ≥4 on either satisfaction or confidence questions or achieved “full” erection within the first year. Mean hospital stay was 1.3 d. Limitations were (1) observational, noncomparative, single-surgeon series and (2) in third-party methodology, failure to capture patient answers for all questionnaire intervals with resultant inability to address durability of functional results for all patients.

Conclusions

ORRP using ×4.3 optical loupe magnification, constant haptic feedback in BNVBP with HAR, and immediate postoperative PDE5i yielded satisfactory outcomes.