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The system works by converting hand movements made by the surgeon at the console into replicated movements scaled to provide even more precise surgeon
control in an even smaller operative area.
Prostatectomy: Questions and Answers
The prostate is a male sex gland about the size of a walnut. It surrounds the neck of the bladder and the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder through the penis). The prostate makes the fluid that liquefies the semen and carries the sperm.
Prostate cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the prostate. Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer among men in the United States. Although the number of men with this disease is high, the number of men who die of the disease is considerably low, since the majority of men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die of it. The American Cancer society estimates that there are 180,000 to 200,000 newly diagnosed cases of prostate cancer each year.
A prostatectomy removes the prostate. Either traditional or minimally invasive surgery may be used. If the cancer has spread and cannot be removed, surgery can be used to relieve symptoms (Palliative Surgery).
A robotic prostatectomy is performed using the da Vinci® Surgical System. Six incisions, the length of a dime, are made in the patient’s abdomen. Instruments are inserted through the incisions and the surgeon controls the robotic arms from a console located several feet away from the patient.
Potential benefits of using the da Vinci® Surgical Robotics system in prostate surgery include:
- Less postoperative pain
- Less procedural blood loss
- A lower risk of wound infection
- Less scarring
- Shorter hospital stay
- Shorter recovery times
- Greater potential for nerve preservation to maintain erective function
- Greater potential for postoperative urinary continence
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