HWN Suggests

Single-Port Surgery Changes the Landscape in Prostate Cancer Treatment

The benefits of single-port surgery are around minimizing the invasiveness of the operation. It is also important to understand that we can do most single-port procedures on the prostate through an extraperitoneal approach, which means conducting the operation entirely in the pelvis, where the prostate lies anatomically in the body. This is different than traditional robotic surgery, which is performed through a transperitoneal approach through the abdomen. When you make incisions through the abdomen, it can impact a lot of the other anatomic structures, organs, the intestines, other big blood vessels. Whereas if you do a single-port procedure, you can confine the operation entirely…

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Featured

 Prostate cancer surgery breakthrough offers hope for erectile function

A more precise form of prostate cancer surgery nearly doubles the chances of men retaining erectile function afterwards compared with standard surgery, according to the first comprehensive trial of the procedure. Doctors in five UK hospitals assessed the surgical approach that aims to preserve crucial nerves that run through the outer layer of the prostate and are thought to be responsible for producing erections. Known as NeuroSafe, the procedure involves checking prostate tissue removed from the patient while the operation is under way. If the examination suggests the tumour has been removed, the nerve-containing outer layer of the prostate can be left intact, reducing the patient’s risk of erectile problems.

Articles of Interest

How to Find an Expert Surgeon

If you have ever talked to a group of men who have had surgery for prostate cancer, you may have heard some stories that just break your heart. We have. Those stories are particularly upsetting for us here at the Prostate Cancer Foundation, because we work with some of the best surgeons in the world. We know that the complications from surgery to remove the prostate – a radical prostatectomy, performed either in open surgery or in laparoscopic form using a robot – ought to be minimal. But often, they are devastating.

Surgery isn’t the only option for prostate cancer yet many men aren’t offered others

A growing body of evidence and treatment guidelines support the fact that less invasive radiation therapy is equally effective in curing or controlling cancer as surgical removal of the prostate, known as radical prostatectomy.

The Side Effects? Well, There Is One...

The reality for many of the 240,000 men in the United States in whom prostate cancer is diagnosed each year is not all that rosy, at least when it comes to their intimate lives. After surgery and radiation treatments, many men quickly discover that sex will never be normal again. Sensations change. Many men can no longer achieve erections without pumps or pills. For some, the ability to have sex goes away entirely.

How Robotics Are Bringing Back Perineal Radical Prostatectomy

Throughout thousands of cases, I and other urologic surgeons have tried to refine the retropubic approach, changing how and where we cut, how we close incisions, and countless other details. We’ve looked for ways to improve surgical options for patients who are obese or have abdominal scar tissue. In the end, I’ve concluded that the best solution is to revert to a procedure we all-but-abandoned in the 1990s, radical perineal prostatectomy (RPP), but with a 21st century twist, robotics.

Is Robotic Prostate Surgery Better Than Traditional Surgery?

Some doctors say it leads to less blood loss and faster recoveries, but others say traditional open surgery remains the gold standard.

Latest research shows surgery for early stage prostate cancer doesn’t save lives

Two recent clinical trials undermine the categorisation of prostate cancer as a death sentence. They are unambiguous in their findings and seismic in their implications. Both found men with early stage abnormalities of the prostate who do not undergo surgery or radiation treatment, but whose condition is monitored for any progression of the cancer, live just as long as men who opted for complete removal of the prostate and now live with its immediate consequences, including incontinence, intimacy issues, bowel problems and intervention regret.

Surgery Adds Three Years to Lives of Prostate-Cancer Patients, Study Finds

A three-decade study found that prostate-removal surgery added an average of nearly three years to lives of men with prostate cancer, compared with those who didn’t get surgery and were monitored. The results suggest the benefits of surgery in men with advanced prostate cancer. Yet men in the early stages of the slow-moving but life-threatening disease might want to wait before undergoing the procedure or forgo it entirely, the study’s authors and other experts say.

Resources

Robotic Oncology

Concerned about the complications and side effects oftraditional invasive prostate cancer surgery, radiation or cryotherapy? We have some good news, and a better prostate cancer treatment solution: Robotic Prostatectomy.