ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Genitourinary Surgery and Interventions
This article is part of the Research TopicRobotic Evolution in Genitourinary Surgery: From a Promising Past to an Even More Exciting FutureView all 3 articles
Application and Efficacy of Retzius-sparing Robotic-assisted Radical Prostatectomy
Provisionally accepted
- Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China
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Background and Objective: The results of comparing standard Robotic-assisted Radical Prostatectomy (S-RARP) and Retzius-sparing Robotic-assisted Radical Prostatectomy (RS-RARP) in treating early urinary continence (UC), oncological outcomes, operation time, and perioperative morbidity in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer were analyzed. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 120 cases of RS-RARP performed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University from October 2019 to March 2025. Among them, 60 cases underwent standard Robotic-assisted Radical Prostatectomy (S-RARP), and 60 cases underwent Retzius-sparing Robotic-assisted Radical Prostatectomy (RS-RARP). The clinical data, perioperative indicators, and surgical outcomes of the two groups of patients were compared. Results: All 120 surgeries were successfully completed. The operation time (mean±SD) of the S-RARP group was (138.97 ± 47.24) minutes, and that of the RS-RARP group was (150.78 ± 51.72) minutes. There was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). The intraoperative blood loss (IQR) of the S-RARP group was 100.00 (237.50) ml, and the incidence of perioperative complications was 8.33% (5/60); for the RS-RARP group, it was 100.00 (150.00) ml and 6.67% (4/60), and the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant (all P > 0.05). The positive rate of surgical margins in the S-RARP group was 30% (18/60), and that in the RS-RARP group was 35% (21/60), and the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Comparisons of the immediate, first-week, and first-month urinary continence recovery rates between the two groups showed that the RS-RARP group was superior to the S-RARP group, and the differences were statistically significant (all P <0.01); however, the third-month urinary continence recovery rate showed no statistically significant difference (P =0.057). Conclusions: Retzius-sparing Robotic-assisted Radical Prostatectomy is beneficial for improving the early recovery of urinary incontinence in patients.
Keywords: Prostate tumor, Prostatectomy, Retzius space preservation, Robot-assisted laparoscopy, urinary continence
Received: 23 Dec 2025; Accepted: 30 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zeng, Zhang, Luo, Li, Zou and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hui Xu
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