Long-term follow-up of bladder cancer patients with disseminated tumour cells in bone marrow.

Background: The clinical relevance of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques for detection of disseminated tumour cells (DTCs) in the bone marrow of bladder cancer (BCa) patients is still under debate, as data on long-term follow-up analysis have not yet been published.

Objective: The aim of the present prospective study was to assess the prognostic significance of DTCs detected by cytokeratin-20 (CK20) reverse-transcriptase PCR in bone marrow from BCa patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC).

Design, Setting, And Participants: Bone marrow samples from 51 BCa patients with high-risk non-muscle-invasive or muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma were drawn from the anterior iliac crest prior to RC.

[Robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy].

The advantage of minimally invasive surgery in the form of laproscopic radical prostatectomy compared with open retropubic radical prostatectomy is indisputable. But a long learning curve seems to be a clear disadvantage. Robotic surgery devices such as the da Vinci system could be very helpful here.

[Robot-assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy].

Recent reports have demonstrated that robot-assisted laparoscopic cystectomy is technically feasible. However, wide-spread acceptance of this promising technique is limited due to long operating times and lacking long-term data especially on oncological outcome. After establishing robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (n=250) we report technical and functional results of a large series of patients undergoing laparoscopic cystectomy with the da Vinci surgical system (DVSS).

[Nephron-sparing surgery].

Over the last two decades, nephron-sparing surgery has gained more and more importance. Initially it was done for imperative indications to preserve the remaining function of solitary kidneys. Today, because of favourable oncological results, elective nephron-sparing surgery is increasingly performed.