Influence of the time interval between biopsy and surgery on the biochemical recurrence after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy in Japanese patients

Objective: We evaluated the impact of the duration between the biopsy and surgery on the biochemical recurrence (BCR) after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP).Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 302 patients who underwent RARP in our institution from April 2010 to December 2017. Patients were categorized into 2 groups, an interval between biopsy and surgery of 180 days or less (Group A) and longer than 180 days (Group B). Factors retrospectively analyzed for the BCR for the interval between the biopsy and RARP included patient's characteristics, intraoperative and postoperative results. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression model were used to evaluate the predictors of BCR.Results: The median follow-up was 42 months, with 24 patients developing BCR at a mean of 13.5 months after RARP. There was no difference in the rate of BCR in Group A and Group B. Multivariate analysis showed that BMI (<23.5 kg/m2, p = 0.034), worst GS of the biopsy (>= 8, p = 0.007), and without lymph node dissection (p = 0.034) were significant predictors of BCR. Analysis of the interval from the biopsy showed that there was no significant difference between Group A and Group B, when tested according to the NCCN risk stratification (low risk: p = 0.871, intermediate risk: p = 0.205, high risk: p = 0.287).Conclusion: The preoperative predictors of BCR included BMI (<23.5 kg/m2) and worst GS of the biopsy, and without lymph node dissection. A long duration from biopsy to RARP did not influence the prob-ability of BCR, even in patients considered to be at a high risk.(c) 2021 Asian Surgical Association and Taiwan Robotic Surgery Association. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).