Vito Cucchiara

About

Dr. Vito Cucchiara is a leading urologic surgeon and researcher whose work centers on improving surgical outcomes for prostate cancer patients, with a particular focus on robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and advanced nodal staging techniques. His most significant contributions lie in the field of PSMA radioguided surgery (RGS), where he has pioneered methods to detect lymph node invasion during robotic procedures. His landmark 2022 prospective phase 2 study (94 citations) demonstrated the feasibility of using PSMA-targeted tracers to identify metastatic nodes in real-time during surgery, potentially sparing patients from unnecessary extended dissections. Dr. Cucchiara has also made critical contributions to patient selection and risk stratification, externally validating the EAU guidelines for pelvic lymph node dissection (37 citations) and developing optimization strategies for functional outcomes after nerve-sparing RARP. His research portfolio, encompassing over 200 cumulative citations, includes influential work on reducing postoperative complications through audit-feedback interventions and defining optimal imaging thresholds for PSMA-guided surgery. Through his prospective trials and validation studies, Dr. Cucchiara continues to refine the balance between oncologic control and quality of life in prostate cancer surgery.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Prostate-specific membrane antigen Radioguided Surgery to Detect Nodal Metastases in Primary Prostate Cancer Patients Undergoing Robot-assisted Radical Prostatectomy and Extended Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection: Results of a Planned Interim Analysis of a Prospective Phase 2 Study

   94 citations · 2022
2. 2
   External Validation of the European Association of Urology Recommendations for Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection in Patients Treated with Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy

   37 citations · 2013
3. 3
   How to Optimize Patient Selection for Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy: Functional Outcome Analyses from a Tertiary Referral Center

   22 citations · 2014
4. 4
   Incidence and Predictors of 30-Day Readmission After Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy

   20 citations · 2016
5. 5
   Defining the optimal target-to-background ratio to identify positive lymph nodes in prostate cancer patients undergoing robot-assisted [99mTc]Tc-PSMA radioguided surgery: updated results and ad interim analyses of a prospective phase II study

   13 citations · 2024
6. 6
   Reducing the Risk of Postoperative Complications After Robot-assisted Radical Prostatectomy in Prostate Cancer Patients: Results of an Audit and Feedback Intervention Following the Implementation of Prospective Data Collection

   8 citations · 2021
7. 7
   Oncological and perioperative outcomes of surgery with or without metastasis-directed therapy as part of a multimodal treatment in men with de-novo oligometastatic prostate cancer

   5 citations · 2023
8. 8
   Fascial Layers in Nerve Sparing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy

   3 citations · 2014
9. 9
   Impact of Early Dorsal Venous Complex Ligation on Urinary Continence Recovery after Robot-assisted Radical Prostatectomy: Results from a Phase 3 Randomized Controlled Trial

   3 citations · 2022

Key Collaborators

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