Unilateral post-chemotherapy robot-assisted retroperitoneal lymph node dissection in Stage II non-seminomatous germ cell tumor:A tertiary care experience

Objective Post-chemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection(PC-RPLND)represents an integral component of the management of patients with non-seminomatous germ cell tumor(NSGCT).Modified templates have been proposed to minimize the surgical morbidity of the procedure.Moreover,the implementation of robotic surgery in this setting has been explored.We report our experience with unilateral post-chemotherapy robot-assisted retroperitoneal lymph node dissection(PC-rRPLND)for clinical Stages IIA and IIB NSGCTs.Methods A retrospective single institution review was performed including 33 patients undergoing PC-rRPLND for Stages IIA and IIB NSGCTs between January 2015 and February 2019.Following orchiectomy,patients were scheduled for chemotherapy with three cycles of bleomycin-etoposide-cisplatin.Patients with a residual tumor of<5 cm and an ipsilateral metastatic disease on pre-and post-chemotherapy CT scans were eligible for a unilateral template in absence of rising tumor markers.Descriptive statistics were provided for demographics,clinical characteristics,intraoperative and postoperative parameters.Perioperative,oncological,and functional outcomes were recorded.Results Overall,7(21.2%)patients exhibited necrosis or fibrosis;14(42.4%)had mature teratoma;and 12(36.4%)had viable tumor at final histology.The median lymph node size at surgery was 25(interquartile range[IQR]21-36)mm.Median operative time was 180(IQR 165-215)min and no major postoperative complications were observed.Anterograde ejaculation was preserved in 75.8%of patients.Median follow-up was 26(IQR 19-30)months and a total of three recurrences were recorded.Conclusion PC-rRPLND is a reliable and technically reproducible procedure with safe oncological outcomes and acceptable postoperative ejaculatory function in well selected patients with NSGCTs.

Proficiency score as a predictor of early trifecta achievement during the learning curve of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy for high-risk prostate cancer:Results of a multicentric series

Background:Recently,an innovative tool called“proficiency score”was introduced to assess the learning curve for robot-assisted radical prostatectomy(RARP).However,the initial study only focused on patients with low-risk prostate cancer forwhompelvic lymph node dissection(PLND)was not required.To address this issue,we aimed to validate proficiency scores of a contemporarymulticenter cohort of patients with high-risk prostate cancer treated with RARP plus extended PLND by trainee surgeons.Material andmethods:Between 2010 and 2020,4 Italian institutional prostate-cancer datasets weremerged and queried for“RARP”and“high-risk prostate cancer.”High-risk prostate cancer was defined according to the most recent European Association of Urology guidelines as follows:prostate-specific antigen>20 ng/mL,International Society ofUrological Pathology≥4,and/or clinical stage(cT)≥2c on preoperative imaging.The selected cohort(n=144)included clinical cases performed by trainee surgeons(n=4)after completing their RARP learning curve(50 procedures for low-risk prostate cancer).The outcome of interest,the proficiency score,was defined as the coexistence of all the following criteria:a comparable operation time to the interquartile range of the mentor surgeon at each center,absence of any significant perioperative complications Clavien-Dindo Grade 3–5,no perioperative blood transfusions,and negative surgical margins.A logistic binary regression model was built to identify the predictors of 1-year trifecta achievement in the trainee cohort.For all statistical analyses,a 2-sided p<0.05 was considered significant.Results:A proficiency score was achieved in 42.3%patients.At univariable level,proficiency score was associated with 1-year trifecta achievement(odds ratio,8.77;95%confidence interval,2.42–31.7;p=0.001).After multivariable adjustments for age,nerve-sparing,and surgical technique,the proficiency score independently predicted 1-year trifecta achievement(odds ratio,9.58;95%confidence interval,1.83–50.1;p=0.007).Conclusions:Our findings support the use of proficiency scores in patients and require extended PLND in addition to RARP.