Objective To compare the clinical effectiveness of robot-assisted radical cystectomy（RARC） versus laparoscopic radical cystectomy（LRC）

and thereby identify the pros and cons of using robot-assisted surgical system in radical cystectomy.Methods Fifty-one patients who underwent radical cystectomy in a Chongqing hospital between January and December 2016 were included in this retrospective study.According to the used surgical procedure

these patients were divided into the RARC group（n = 16） and LRC group（n = 35）.The operation duration

intraoperative blood loss

length of hospital stay

duration of gastrointestinal disturbance

incidence of complications within 30 days after operation

and 2-year survival rate were compared between the two groups.Results The operation duration

length of hospital stay

and duration of gastrointestinal disturbance were comparable between the two groups（P>0.05）.However

the intraoperative blood loss in the RARC group was significantly smaller than that in the LRC group（209.3±121.5 m L vs.457.7±258.1 m L

P<0.05）.Twenty-four patients in the LRC group（68.6%） and 10 patients in the RARC group（62.5%） experienced complications within 30 days after operation

respectively;and the difference in the incidence of such complications was not statistically significant（P>0.05）.Serious complications（Clavien-Dindo grade ≥Ⅲ） occurred in16 patients in the LRC group（45.7%） and 2 patients in the RARC group（12.6%）

respectively;the difference in the incidence was statistically significant（P< 0.05）.With tumor-specific mortality as the primary endpoint

the KaplanMeier survival analysis showed that no significant difference was noted in 2-year survival rate between the two groups（P>0.05）.Conclusion RARC may lower the incidence of serious postoperative complications and reduce intraoperative blood loss.Along with the advances in robot-assisted surgical techniques and increased availability of Da Vinci Robot

robot-assisted surgical system will have a more promising prospect in the field of urology.