Objective: To introduce a more cost-effective therapy of three-port laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) for prostate cancer (PCa) in developing countries like China.
Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed 112 patients with PCa receiving LRP between January 2011 and December 2013 at our institution. They were divided into group A (three-port LRP, 24 patients) and group B (conventional four-five port LRP, 88 patients). A learning curve was analyzed by dividing patients of group A into the early and late stage.
Results: Both groups were comparable with regard to all of the preoperative characteristics. All three-port LRP were performed successfully without conversion to open radical prostatectomy (ORP) or four-five port LRP. In group A, the mean operative time (OT) was 89.3 min, the mean estimated blood loss (EBL) was 132.5 mL, the mean hospitalization was 4.2 d, and 29.2% of the prostate specimen margins (PSM) were positive. In group B, the figures were 100.6 min, 216.7 mL, 5.2 d respectively and 33.0% of PSM were positive. The differences of OT and EBL were statistically significant between both groups (P<0.05). After undergoing the early stage of a learning curve in three-port LRP, the OT and EBL could be decreased evidently.
Conclusions: Three-port LRP is a modified technique, which exhibits superior intraoperative advantages to the conventional LRP. Due to its lower cost and less EBL with a shorter learning curve and OT, it should be recommended that three-port LRP is a more cost-effective therapy in developing countries like China. Please keep your head when faced to the hot topic!
