Open Versus Robotic Radical Cystectomy With Intracorporeal Neobladder: A Decade-Long Single-Surgeon Experience

Introduction This single-surgeon, long-term study aims to evaluate open radical cystectomy (ORC) and robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) with Studer urinary diversion in bladder cancer patients in terms of perioperative, oncological, and functional outcomes. Methods This was a single-center, single-surgeon study analyzing patients who underwent open versus robotic intracorporeal neobladder (RIN) from January 2009 to January 2020. We recorded baseline characteristics, perioperative variables, outcomes, including cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS), and functional outcomes. Results The study included 454 patients (242 open, 212 robotic) with an overall follow-up of 120 months. The RIN group had significantly lower blood loss (p < 0.001), more unilateral nerve sparing (p = 0.008), and higher lymph node yield (p = 0.042). The number of 30-day readmissions favored RIN significantly (p = 0.041). Complication rates (major and minor) were similar between groups (p = 0.56 and 0.61, respectively). The RIN group had improved severe daytime continence (p = 0.03), though no significant difference was found in erectile function (p = 0.56). The robotic cohort showed improved 10-year CSS in T3 disease (68.3% vs. 50.5%, p = 0.04). The OS for the entire cohort was 66.5% for the robotic cohort and 61.6% for open at 10 years (p = 0.08). Conclusions In this series, RIN had decreased blood loss, an increased lymph node yield, decreased rate of hospital readmissions, lesser hospital stay, and improved severe daytime continence compared to the open approach.