Better post-op pain outcomes seen with robotic RP

A study comparing postoperative pain between robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP) and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) appears to favor the robotic technique.

In the prospective, randomized, double-blind study, Italian researchers randomized 100 patients requiring prostatectomy in two groups: one receiving the robotic procedure and the other undergoing LRP.

"Our preliminary study suggests that RALP causes less postoperative pain than LRP with lower requirement of analgesic drugs in postoperative period," said co-author Cristian Fiori, MD, of the University of Turin, Turin, Italy.

Postoperative pain was measured by the Visual Analog Scale diffused (VAS D), incident (the pain on light compression of surgical wound, VAS I), and referred (shoulder pain, VAS R) pain scores. Consumption of opioid analgesics (buprenorphine [Buprenex, Butrans, Subutex]), and the amount of rescue drugs (acetaminophen) at 1, 3, 6, and 24 hours after surgery were also compared between the study groups.

The patients undergoing the robotic procedure had statistically significantly lower pain in VAS D and VAS I scores than patients undergoing LRP. Measurements were recorded at 1, 3, 6, and 24 hours after operation. VAS R measures did not show statistically significant differences in the study groups.

The RALP group also required less opioid analgesic medication compared to the LRP group (345±53 mg vs. 451±103 mg, ppp