Correlation of urinary continence recovery with various factors after Robot assisted radical prostatectomy

Abstract

Background: In addition to ensuring cancer control, prevention of incontinence which significantly impact patients’ quality of life, is also an important issue in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) operations. In this study, we aimed to find the correlation of urinary continence recovery with various factors after Robot assisted radical prostatectomy. Methods: This study included 162 patients treated with RARP with perioperative data and at least 1 year of follow-up. Also, the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative parameters of the patients were analyzed. The continence recovery rate in our study was assessed at 6th week, 3rd month, 6th month, 9th month, and 12th month, post-surgery. Logistic regression analysis evaluated the association between the predictive factors and urinary continence recovery in the early and late stages. Results: The majority of patients with prostate cancer present in sixth decade of life. The majority of our patients (56.7%) were categorized as high risk using D’Amico classification. The continence rate in our study at 6th week, 3rd month, 6th month, 9th month, and 12th month were 40.1%, 72.2%, 85.2%, 89.5%, and 91.4%, respectively. No improvement in continence status was observed after 1 year in our study. There was significant correlation of age with continence status at 6th week, 3rd month, and 6th month. The young age is associated with early recovery of continence. At 3 and 9 months, the non-diabetics cases achieved significantly higher continence rates than diabetics ( p < 0.05) which shows that diabetes causes delay in attainment of continence. Conclusion: The young age may be associated with early recovery of continence, but further validation requires large number of cases. We attributed good continence recovery rate to meticulous dissection and preservation of good urethral length.