(HealthDay News) — Patients require 3 to 6 months to recover to baseline levels of independence after radical cystectomy, irrespective of surgical approach, according to a study published online in JAMA Network Open.
Vivek Venkatramani, MD, from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues assessed time to recovery of functional independence after radical cystectomy and whether differences exist between robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) and open procedures. This secondary analysis included data from a randomized clinical trial for 302 patients treated at 15 academic medical centers from July 1, 2011, to Nov. 18, 2014.
The researchers found that overall, activities of daily living (ADL), independent ADL, and the timed up & go walking test (TUGWT) recovered to baseline by 3 postoperative months, while hand grip strength took 6 months. For RARC, activities of daily living recovered at 1 month versus 3 months after open radical cystectomy (ORC). For hand grip strength, RARC recovery occurred by 3 months versus 6 months after ORC. In the RARC group, 35.6% of patients showed a recovery in hand grip strength at 3 months compared with 36.4% in the ORC group. Recovery in 3 months was similar for independent ADL and TUGWT.
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“These findings suggest that recovery after radical cystectomy takes 3 to 6 months and recovery in some domains may be quicker after RARC,” the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to FerGene and UroGen Pharma.
