ABSTRACT
Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy represents a “minimally invasive approach” to conventional retropubic radical prostatectomy (1). The technique, however, requires a significant learning curve even for experienced laparoscopic surgeons (1-3). Indeed, it is estimated that the steep part of the learning curve extends over 40 to 50 cases (4). One area of difficulty is mastering laparoscopic suturing techniques in order to perform the urethrovesical anastomosis, which is one of the most demanding steps of the whole procedure. According to Schuessler et al., it represents the part of the procedure requiring the greatest time, taking twice as long as the removal of the prostate (1). However, this technique needs to be standardized at the very beginning of the laparoscopic experience in order to improve its ergonomics and accuracy.
