A Novel Technique of Robotic-Assisted Simple Cystectomy During Urinary Diversion for Benign Indications.

When urinary diversion is necessary for benign indications, the defunctionalized bladder is at risk of a number of severe complications such as bleeding, pain, pyocystis and secondary urothelial carcinoma. These complications occur in 54-80% of patients left with native bladder after diversion, and these patients go on to require completion cystectomy 20-25% of the time. Rowley et al. at the University of Michigan reported their experience in open simple cystectomy in 2011 in a series of 23 patients.  This operation, to our knowledge, has not been previously adapted to the robotic platform despite the growing prevalence of robotic surgery including for complex reconstruction and urinary diversion.  Here we report our novel adapted technique of performing robotic simple cystectomy in two index patients.