Key points:
- Radical prostatectomy assisted by the da Vinci robot is one of the surgeries that provide greater precision and lower risks for the cure of prostate cancer.
- The da Vinci robot provides benefits in the surgical process and the execution, also optimizing recovery.
- Thanks to the da Vinci surgical system, the surgeon will be able to perform procedures with pinpoint precision.
Prostate cancer is the most common malignant tumor in men over 50 and is the second leading cause of death from malignant tumors in men over 65.
Being a surgery that allows the extraction of part or all of the prostate, prostatectomy is used in the treatment of a series of disorders that affect this organ and is widely used in prostate cancer.
Radical prostatectomy is a surgery that allows the removal of the entire prostate gland, along with the surrounding lymph nodes, to treat patients with localized prostate cancer.
Although there are different techniques to perform prostatectomy, depending on the condition to be treated, one of the most relevant is minimally invasive robotic surgery.
The ABC Medical Center’s robotic surgery department has the da Vinci robot that allows surgery to be performed safely. After surgery, the patient recovers quickly, without pain or bleeding, managing to return home in a couple of days.
“This is one of the best ways to treat prostate cancer in the world, unlike open surgery, which takes three to four times longer to recover; with the robot, costs are reduced because it requires fewer hospitalization days, fewer transfusions, fewer use of painkillers, quick recovery, and reintegration to work”, says Dr. Aarón Torres, head of the urology course at ABC Medical Center.
Robotic surgery has different advantages over open surgery since the latter has a high possibility of damaging the nerves that allow erection, while robotic surgery has four times less chance of causing this side effect. Also, in open surgery, there is a risk of damaging the sphincter and the patient may suffer permanent incontinence.
In cases of advanced prostate cancer, robotic surgery can also be an alternative together with other procedures such as radiation or drugs and, although it is no longer a curable disease, removal of the prostate may help the patient live longer. If there are already metastases, they are very few possibilities, and, depending on the particular case, the prostate can be removed to help control the tumor for palliative purposes.
The da Vinci robot provides various advantages to prostatectomy both in its surgical process phase and in the execution phase, enhancing the surgeon’s dexterity, also optimizing recovery compared to more conventional non-robotic techniques, such as open surgery or laparoscopy.
Thanks to this, the surgeon will benefit from:
- Accessibility to deep anatomical planes.
- Tremor elimination.
- Improved degree of accuracy and range of motion.
- Greater radicality in tumor removal.
- The possibility of an error is reduced.
- Three-dimensional visualization of the operating field in real-time.
Benefits for the patient:
- Smaller scars.
- Reduces the risk of infections.
- Lower risk of complications.
- Little chance of bleeding.
- Less painful.
- Quicker return to everyday life.
- Reduced hospitalization time.
- Shorter recovery time.
All this is achieved thanks to the fact that the surgeon does not operate with their hands, but rather manipulates the robot from a distance and the system replicates the doctor’s instructions to perform surgeries with pinpoint precision, being able to also perform complex surgical procedures with a minimal invasion.
Being a slave robot, da Vinci cannot program or act on its own, which means that the surgeon is the one who gives the orders and directs the movements during the process.
Each patient has their particular situation, but thanks to the da Vinci robot support, prostatectomy surgery is performed between two and four hours, depending on the size of the prostate and the difficulties present, and the patient’s recovery is achieved between one and two weeks.
At ABC Medical Center’s Robotic Surgery Center, we can provide you with specialized care. Contact us!
Fuente:
https://www.clinicasagradafamilia.com/es/tratamientos/prostatectomia-radical-robotica-da-vinci
https://www.mayoclinic.org/es/tests-procedures/prostatectomy/about/pac-20385198
Dr. Aarón Torres García, urologist-oncologist expert in robotic surgery at the ABC Medical Center
