Lisa Isaacs
WITH the lifetime risk for prostate cancer among South African men being one in 27, a new robotic procedure is revolutionising patient treatment.
In support of men’s health awareness month, Mediclinic Durbanville hosted a live broadcast yesterday of a Da Vinci Robotic procedure from theatre.
The robot has mechanical wrists that bend and turn to mimic the movements of a surgeon’s hands during surgery, revolutionising prostate cancer treatment.
The robot translates the surgeon’s hand movements outside the patient into smaller, more precise movements inside the patient. This is because the movement inside the body is three times smaller and the surgeon has a 10 times’ magnification of the inside of the body on his screen, allowing the surgeon to see even the smallest veins and arteries.
The keyhole surgery is a less invasive surgery, with the robot’s arms making use of five small incisions.
Gawie Bruwer, a urologist at Mediclinic Durbanville, who has undertaken more than 85 of these robotic procedures, said: “The precision of the Da Vinci aids the thorough removal of cancerous tissue as well as offering the ability to perform nerve-sparing surgery, which enables a faster return of erectile function as well as a better chance for urinary continence.
“This technology is giving patients the option of improved clinical outcomes that may not be possible with open surgery.”
He said more than 60% of his patients are discharged the day after surgery, as the robotic surgery lowers the risk of infection and the reduction in blood loss minimises the risk of blood transfusions.
Patients’ pain levels are comparatively lower following the keyhole surgery and the need for use of a catheter is also shorter, he said.
Rainer Ladewig, a former robotic surgery patient recovering from prostate cancer, said after surgery he was discharged the next day
“I was walking around the passages of the hospital without any intense pain, besides the discomfort where the incisions were made.”
The Cancer Association of South Africa says routine Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) testing should be done every year from age 40 for all men at high risk of prostate cancer. This includes those men with more than one first-degree relative who had prostate cancer at an early age (younger than 65 years).
Routine PSA testing should be done at least once every two years for all males from the age of 50.