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Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men in Canada. It forms in the prostate gland of the male reproductive system and often grows very slowly. However, in some patients, prostate cancer grows more quickly and is fatal.

One of the possible treatments for prostate cancer is to surgically remove the prostate gland. This is known as radical prostatectomy. It can be performed in an open, laparoscopic, or robot-assisted approach. The open approach is the traditional surgical approach and involves a large incision. In contrast, laparoscopic and robot-assisted approaches are minimally invasive and performed through small keyhole incisions.

The robot-assisted approach is the newest method. It uses a surgical robotic system with arms that the surgeon controls to perform the radical prostatectomy.

We reviewed the evidence to evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness of the robotic surgical system for radical prostatectomy, compared with the open and conventional laparoscopic approaches.