Short‐term quality‐of‐life assessed after robot‐assisted radical cystectomy: a prospective analysis

OBJECTIVE To prospectively determine the effect of robot‐assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) on quality of life (QoL) after surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS In all, 34 patients who had RARC for bladder cancer between January 2006 and December 2007 at one institution were prospectively enrolled in a study of QoL. All patients had RARC with extracorporeal urinary diversion by one surgeon. As part of the routine follow‐up, QoL was assessed at intervals. Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy‐Bladder (FACT‐BL) questionnaires were administered before and then over a 6‐month period after RARC. Patients undergoing chemotherapy were not excluded. Follow‐up FACT‐BL and individual domain scores for physical, social, emotional and functional well‐being were compared with those obtained before RARC. RESULTS The mean age of all patients was 65 years, 88% were men, and 13 (38%) had adjuvant chemotherapy. The mean time after RARC for the 1‐, 3‐ and 6‐month assessments was 29, 90 and 193 days, respectively; 19 patients completed three follow‐up questionnaires. Initially, there were significant decreases in the physical and functional domains, with improvements in the emotional domain (P