Comparison of Single-docking Robotic-assisted and Traditional Laparoscopy for Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection During Nephroureterectomy With Bladder Cuff Excision for Upper-tract Urothelial Carcinoma.

<bold>Objective: </bold>To compare the results of traditional laparoscopy and a simple, single-docking robotic approach for retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND), nephroureterectomy, and bladder cuff excision.<bold>Materials and Methods: </bold>We evaluated 63 and 37 consecutive patients who underwent laparoscopic and robotic nephrouretectomy with RPLND, respectively, for upper-tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).<bold>Results: </bold>Our robotic approach was associated with improved lymph node procurement (21.0 nodes [interquartile range 16.0-30.0]) when compared with laparoscopy (11.0 nodes [interquartile range 5.5-21.0]) (P < .0001). Major blood loss as defined by requiring a blood transfusion was less for the robotic group than for the laparoscopic cohort (8% vs 30%) (P = .012). In contrast, the robotic group had longer operative times (5.1 vs 3.9 hours) (P = .0001) and longer hospital stays (5.0 vs 4.0 days) (P = .0002).<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Our single-docking robotic technique for concomitant RPLND during nephrouretectomy is associated with improved lymph node yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]