A single-center retrospective comparative analysis of urinary continence in robotic prostatectomy with a combination of umbilical ligament preservation and Hood technique

Objectives: Data available on the effect of the recently developed Hood technique and its modified iterations in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy on postoperative urinary continence are insufficient. We evaluated the time to achieve urinary continence with the modified Hood technique compared with the standard or umbilical ligament preservation robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.Methods: This retrospective analysis examines patient records for those who underwent robot-assisted radical prostatectomy at the Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation in Fukushima, Japan, from 2017 to 2021. The main outcome was to determine significant differences in the time taken to achieve urinary continence among the three procedure types. We employed the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis to estimate the time to achieve urinary continence in the three procedure types of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. Additionally, we used a Cox regression hazard model to evaluate the association between the time to achieve urinary continence and the procedure types.Results: We considered 196 patients in this study. The estimated rates of achieving urinary continence at 6 months following standard, umbilical ligament preservation, and modified Hood technique robot-assisted radical prostatectomy were 77.6%, 89.5%, and 100%, respectively. The multivariable Cox hazard regression model showed that patients who underwent the modified Hood technique were significantly more likely to achieve urinary continence than those who underwent the standard robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.Conclusions: The modified Hood technique achieved better urinary continence outcomes, with all patients with the procedure achieving urinary continence at 6 months. Further randomized controlled trials are required to validate this finding.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the effect of the Hood technique and its modified iterations in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy on postoperative urinary continence. The modified Hood technique achieved better urinary continence outcomes and further randomized controlled trials are needed to validate this finding.