The impact of staple transection of the dorsal venous complex and urethra on intraoperative blood loss in cooperative laparoscopic and transperineal endoscopic pelvic exenteration

Purpose: While laparoscopic pelvic exenteration reduces intraoperative blood loss, dorsal venous complex bleeding during this procedure causes issues. We previously introduced a method to transect the dorsal venous complex and urethra using a linear stapler during cooperative laparoscopic and transperineal endoscopic (two-team) pelvic exenteration. The present study assessed its effectiveness in reducing intraoperative blood loss by comparing it with conventional laparoscopic pelvic exenteration.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at a Japanese tertiary referral center. Eleven cases of two-team laparoscopic pelvic exenteration with staple transection of the dorsal venous complex (T-PE group) were compared to 25 cases of conventional laparoscopic pelvic exenteration (C-PE group). The primary outcome measure was intraoperative blood loss.

Results: There were no significant between-group differences in patient background. The mean intraoperative blood loss was significantly lower in the T-PE group than in the C-PE group (200 vs. 850 mL, p = 0.01). The respective mean operation time, postoperative complication rate, and R0 resection rate were similar between the T-PE and C-PE groups (636 min vs. 688 min, p = 0.36; 36% vs. 44%, p = 0.65; 100% vs. 100%, p = 1.00).

Conclusions: Two-team laparoscopic pelvic exenteration with staple transection of the dorsal venous complex reduced intraoperative blood loss from the dorsal venous complex in a technically safe and oncologically feasible manner.