Robotic Surgery and Prostate Cancer
“Regarding treatment options for what we would consider localized disease, disease that we think is still in the prostate. For men that have a more aggressive disease or for very young men with even low-risk disease, some men will consider either radiation therapy or surgery. Both of these are meant to treat localized disease.
One nice thing that we’re able to offer now is the da Vinci robot. We have the newest version here locally, the Xi. It’s an actual significant improvement over its predecessor, the Si.
I have vast experience with both the Si and the Xi and I will tell you the visualization is significantly improved as well as the ability to maneuver the arms inside the patient. Specifically, this is done very similar to laparoscopy where a port is placed in the patient’s abdomen and we place carbon dioxide into it to create working space, then we place other ports that will allow us to use robotic arms that are controlled by the surgeon sitting at a console as well as controlling the camera. This allows us to get into very tight spaces. Also, the visualization is 10 times magnification so we’re able to see things that we wouldn’t normally be able to see with our naked eye.
Overall, this has been a great improvement and I’m excited to be able to offer this to the residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”
