Cystectomy

Abstract

Radical cystectomy is the current gold standard for the management of muscle invasive bladder cancer and high-risk nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer. The morbidity of radical cystectomy is considerable and typical complication rates are in the range of 60-70%, with almost one in five patients having a major complication. Robotic surgery has been employed for radical cystectomy for over a decade, and in various studies has been shown to decrease the blood loss associated with radical cystectomy. However, the overall complication rates of robotic radical cystectomy, have, by and large remained similar to those in large contemporary open radical cystectomy series. While the majority of the complications of radical cystectomy are related to the urinary diversion, some complications are attributable to the extirpative part of the operation. In this chapter, we discuss some of the complications specific to the robotic radical cystectomy itself.