Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: The intraoperative and perioperative complications in 150 cases

Purpose: We retrospectively evaluated the intraoperative and perioperative complications of 150 laparoscopic radical prostatectomies that were performed at our institution. Materials and Methods: Between July 2001 and March 2007, 150 consecutive patients underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. The inpatient and outpatient medical records were reviewed. We divided the patients into three groups: the first 50 patients in group I, the middle 50 patients in group II and last 50 patients in group III. The major and minor complications were evaluated in each group. Results: The overall complication rate was 36%. The major complication rate was 7% and the minor complication rate was 29%. The major complication rate was 18% in group I, 2% in group II and 0% in group III. The minor complication rate was 48% in group I, 24% in group II and 16% in group III. The result showed that the complication rate declined with accumulating experience with laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Although laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is a technically demanding procedure and it has a steep learning curve, the complication rate declined with accumulating experience with laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. The complications were acceptable because they were not severe and they were managed with little difficulty.