Neoadjuvant hormonal therapy is a feasible option in laparoscopic radical prostatectomy

From January 2004 to September 2009, 342 patients undergoing LRP were analyzed, specifically comparing 72 patients who received NHT to 270 who did not. All patients were in clinical stage T2 and nerve sparing LRP were not included.The mean patient age, preoperative prostate specific antigen (PSA), clinical stage, and biopsy Gleason grade were similar for the NHT and the non-NHT LRP groups. The median blood loss and the median operative time were also similar. There were no differences in the intraoperative complication rate of rectum injury, blood transfusion, and open surgery conversion. The positive surgical margin rate was significantly improved in NHT patients. Moreover, PSA recurrence within two years was significantly less in long-term NHT than in non-NHT patients.LRP was shown as a safe and efficacious procedure in patients who have received NHT. Perioperative morbidity of NHT patients undergoing LRP appears equivalent to non-NHT patients, with lower positive surgical margin, and PSA recurrence rate.In recent years, significant improvements have been made in the early detection of prostate cancer (PCA). Also, a rapid increase in incidence during the past two decades has been noted [1]. Radical retropubic prostatectomy (RP), in particular, provides excellent long-term disease control for patients with clinically localized PCA [2]. Laparoscopic prostatectomy (LRP), first described by Schuessler et al. [3], is a standard treatment modality for localized PCA that seeks to combine the benefits of a minimally invasive approach with the advantages of surgical removal and pathologic staging of the tumor. This technique was initiated in our practice in 2001, and since then more than 500 cases have been experienced.The use of neoadjuvant hormonal therapy (NHT) lacks widespread acceptance in the treatment of PCA patients. Studies have demonstrated a decrease in pathologic stage without improvement in prostate specific antigen (PSA) for disease-free survival in patients