Urological Surgery
Zachariah Taylor, DO
Urology Resident
Main Line Health
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
Sami Musallam, DO
Main Line Health Bryn Mawr Hospital - Bryn Mawr, PA
Disclosure information not submitted.
Ilia Zeltser, MD, FACS
Main Line Health Bryn Mawr Hospital - Bryn Mawr, PA
Disclosure information not submitted.
This Institutional Review Board exempt approved study was performed through retrospective review of all patients between January 2020 and March 2022 undergoing robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy with or without indwelling urethral catheter placement.
Patient medical records were reviewed, and clinical and pathological characteristics were evaluated, including age at surgery; sex; body mass index (BMI); preoperative and postoperative radiation and/or chemotherapy; pathologic T and N stage; surgical margin status, pad use, and urinary symptoms.
An independent t-test was used to compare continuous variables, and Pearson’s chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was used to compare categorical variables. All analyses were performed using R Statistical Software (v4.1.2; R Core Team 2021). Two-sided p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Outcomes: A total of 92 patients underwent robotic prostatectomy from January 2020 to March 2022. Of those, 62 had both a post-operative foley catheter and a suprapubic catheter, while 30 only had a suprapubic catheter. There was no significant difference noted between the foley and no foley group in regards to age (64.0 vs 64.47, p=0.7666), BMI (28.39 vs 28.48, p=0.9278), ASA (2.32 vs 2.4, p=0.4970), or PSA (9.13 vs 10.4256, p=0.6284). Further, there was no difference in stage, node status, or positive margins between the two groups. In regards to postoperative complications, there were no significant differences in the rates of anastomotic leak (p=0.3261), ileus (p=0.2471), or postoperative incontinence (0.7932). Neither group had any incidence of bladder neck contracture or urethral stricture.
Conclusion: Catheterless urethral anastomosis demonstrated no significant difference in rates of stricture, leak, ileus, bladder neck contracture/stricture, or postoperative urinary symptoms. This study demonstrates that the omission of an indwelling urethral catheter following robot-assisted radical prostatectomy is a safe and feasible technique. Learning Objectives: