The use of robotically assisted surgery for treating urachal anomalies.

Objective: To report the management of urachal anomalies using a robotically assisted approach.

Methods: Between January 2005 and February 2006, five patients (mean age 51 years, range 24-68) were diagnosed with urachal anomalies. Two basic robot-assisted surgical approaches were used for excising the urachal anomalies: excision of the urachal remnant via partial cystectomy, and radical cystectomy for excision of urachal adenocarcinoma.

Results: All five cases were successful and the excised specimens were assessed histologically. The short-term oncological outcome in the three patients with histologically confirmed moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma showed no evidence of recurrent disease within a median interval of 8 months. Surveillance follow-up cystoscopy in the patients who had a partial cystectomy showed a well-healed bladder mucosa with no evidence of recurrence.

Conclusions: Radical excision of the urachal tract with partial cystectomy or radical cystectomy using the da Vinci robot is safe, effective and technically feasible.