An observational study found that robotic-assisted surgery for prostate cancer has fewer positive surgical margins than open surgery, and patients who had robotic surgery needed fewer additional cancer treatments afterward.
According to the study, published in the journal European Urology, the higher upfront costs of robotic surgery may be offset by a reduction of additional cancer therapy costs due to better cancer control outcomes.
Researchers compared 5,556 patients who received robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy to 7,878 who received open radical prostatectomy between 2004 and 2009. Data was provided by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program.
The researchers compared the two groups by surgical margin status. A positive margin for prostate cancer has been shown to lead to a greater risk of prostate cancer recurrence and death from the disease. Researchers also assessed the use of additional cancer therapy, such as androgen deprivation and radiation, after robotic versus open surgery.
They found that RARP was associated with 5 percent fewer positive surgical margins, 13.6 percent versus 18.3 percent for ORP, and this difference was greater for patients with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer. Patients who had robotic surgery also had a one-third reduction in likelihood of using additional cancer therapy within 24 months after robotic surgery compared to open surgery.
