Low Quality of Evidence for Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Prostatectomy: A Problem Not Only in the Robotic Literature

摘要

The call for standardised and higher quality reports on surgical techniques and outcomes is becoming louder [1]. The reason for this is that the number of low-quality papers is increasing; however, the body of evidence and the knowledge we have about the reported outcomes, unfortunately, is not. In this issue of European Urology, Kang and coworkers present a systematic review of the literature on robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) [2]. They observed that RALP is displacing radical retropubic prostatectomy as the gold standard surgical approach for clinically localised prostate cancer in the United States and is also being used increasingly in Europe and in other parts in the world. One would expect that this remarkable change in treatment pattern with its significant financial implications would be based on evidence of the superiority of RALP. However, having performed an extensive literature search and a thorough evaluation of each retrieved paper, the authors conclude this is not the case.