Modified anterior approach to the bladder neck: simple and reproducible procedure for anterior bladder neck transection during robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.

To evaluate the feasibility and reproducibility of a simple technique for identifying the initial cutting point of the bladder neck during robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. To precisely identify the prostatovesical junction, we first pulled the anterior bladder wall in an upward direction with the second arm to identify the precise location of the prostatovesical junction where anterior bladder neck dissection is initiated. After one experienced surgeon had established this technique, three surgeons who were less experienced in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy utilized this method for 50 consecutive robot-assisted radical prostatectomy cases. The pathological results and the time required to transect the anterior bladder wall were evaluated. There were no cases of positive resection margin on the site of bladder neck. The mean resection time was not significantly different when comparing less experienced surgeons with the experienced surgeon (P = 0.29). In conclusion, this method is a simple and reproducible way to identify the bladder neck during robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. This technique is also useful (for laparoscopic or open radical prostatectomy) even in difficult scenarios, such as post-transurethral resection of prostate cases.