In the current study we compared intraoperatively recorded hemodynamics of patients undergoing Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy and Robot-Assisted Partial Nephrectomy. We documented no relevant preoperative difference in patient characteristics. Analysis of these data, as well as the comparison of both groups showed decreasing blood pressure and slightly elevated pCO2, as well as a slight decrease in pO2 in both groups, as would be expected during a laparoscopic surgical intervention. However, besides slightly higher diastolic blood pressure, hemodynamic monitoring showed no significant difference within the two groups, which suggests that the Trendelenburg position exerted a negligible effect in the RALP group on patients’ hemodynamics. In addition, noninvasive cerebral oxygenation monitoring revealed no significant change during the operation, and no difference between our two groups. This finding is supported by other studies applying infrared spectroscopy. In a study by Park et al., intraoperative measurements revealed a statistically significant increase in rSO2 when keeping the pCO2 constant [
13]. Other studies report unchanged rSO2, as our data demonstrate [
14].Multiple physiological reactions should be considered in this context. On one hand, there is evidence that intracranial pressure rises during Trendelenburg position due to increased venous pressure [
15]. This effect is complemented by the increase in intraabdominal pressure due to the pneumoperitoneum, which also increases intracranial pressure by obstructing the venous return [
16]. However, pneumoperitoneum also increases cerebral perfusion by raising pCO2 and releasing catecholamine, causing improved cerebral blood flow and in turn potentially higher rSO2 [
17]. The net effect of this physiological reactions, as described by Tanaka et al., is a slight increase in cerebral blood volume [
18] that was, however, reported to be less than 10%. We found no changes in rSO2 in this study. Our study data indicate that the Trendelenburg position exerts an only slight effect on rSO2, and no signs of impaired cerebral oxygenation.
Follow up of all patients including Mini Mental Status evaluation of the cognitive state also showed no negative effect on the intellectual ability of all operated patients in both groups. In addition, we detected no complications related to the Trendelenburg positioning. We therefore conclude that the Trendelenburg position as applied in Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy is safe for the patient and can be applied during surgical interventions requiring extended operating times. Our study however, has some limitations. First of all, it was exploratory and conducted only on a small cohort; further prospective studies will have to confirm these results. In addition, our control group patients did not undergo the same surgical intervention, since Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy is currently only performed in Trendelenburg position, thus a control group undergoing the same procedure was not possible. Furthermore, our control group included, besides partial nephrectomy, various other Robot-Assisted procedures on the kidney including one radical nephrectomy, one adrenalectomy and a pyeloplasty. As the adrenalectomy was due to a benign hormone-inactive tumor, we cannot rule out that surgical adrenal manipulation might have altered our results.