| FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS |
| |
| Q: How long can I expect
to be off of work after the procedure? |
| A: Many patients
(including physicians, surgeons, and lawyers) are able
to return to light work in less than one week. However,
many patients take time off for one or two weeks after
the daVinci robotic prostate surgery. Long-term disability
is not necessary after this procedure since complications
are rare and recovery is typically rapid. Any further
time off will be recommended if medically necessary. |
| |
| GENERAL |
|
Q: How safe is the daVinci Robot for Laparoscopic Prostatectomy? |
| A:The
daVinci is FDA approved for radical prostatectomies and
is being used routinely in over 300 locations world wide.
(see intuitivesurgical.com
for a current listing). Each daVinci system is rigorously
maintained, tested, and upgraded as necessary by Intuitive
Surgical. |
| |
| Q: What happens
if there is a malfunction in the daVinci System? |
| A:In
the unlikely event of malfunction, or if Dr. Fagin feels
that it is not safe to continue with the robot, the daVinci
system will be withdrawn and the surgery can proceed laparoscopically
without it. Dr. Fagin is one of a relatively small number
of Urologists with a large experience performing laparoscopic
prostate surgery without the daVinci robot. The instruments
and supplies necessary to perform the surgery without
the daVinci are kept on hand so that conversion, if necessary,
can occur seamlessly. To date, Dr. Fagin has never had
this occur. |
| |
| Q: My doctor
tells me that the surgeon loses tactile sensation with
robotic surgery. How does this affect the outcomes of
surgery? |
| A:
Tactile sensation, the ability to perceive through touch,
is an important part of open radical prostatectomy surgery.
The surgeon usually uses this sense in the portions of
the operation where he or she is not able to see clearly.
Although with daVinci robotic surgery true tactile sensation
is lost, the ability to move the robotic camera to difficult
locations within millimeters of where Dr. Fagin is working
allows him to see things an open surgeon cannot, and do
so with the 14 fold magnification of the robotic camera.
Furthermore, Dr. Fagin has found that with experience,
a pseudo-tactile sensation is developed and an appreciation
of tissue texture and density is achieved. The combination
of enhanced vision and experience with tissue handling
more than compensates for the lack of real tactile sensation.
This is why the results for daVinci laparoscopic robotic
surgery are so good. |
| |
| Q: Many urologists
feel the benefits of daVinci robotic surgery are unproven.
What is your opinion? |
| A: Open
radical prostatectomy is a highly sophisticated and finely
developed operation. When it comes to surgery, whether
you perform it through an open incision or via the daVinci
robotic technique, the same things matter: operative time,
blood loss, negative margin rates, post-surgical pain,
time to recovery of urinary control, time to recovery
of erections, time until recovery to full physical activity.
All of this information has been published and is available
on daVinci robotic surgery and it shows equal, and in
some cases, better outcomes when compared to open surgery.
The beauty of daVinci robotic surgery is these outcomes
are accomplished while minimizing bleeding and pain. Why
suffer if you don't have to? |
| |
| Q: My Urologist
tells me that it takes 15 years to know if a prostate
cancer treatment really works. How can you tell that the
da Vinci surgery works if it’s only been around
for 5 years? |
A:
Waiting 15 years to analyze prostate cancer cure rates
holds true for treatments that do not remove the prostate
like radiation because you need to wait to see if all
the cancer was killed or if it will eventually return
in the prostate. With surgical removal of the prostate
(daVinci or the old open technique) the prostate is removed
and once it’s out you can find out the surgical
margins.
Surgical margins are the edges of the prostate gland and
the Pathologist will look at this when the prostate is
removed. If your surgical margins show no cancer at the
edges, you got it all out locally. This does not mean
it has not spread to other parts of the body it just means
there is nothing left behind in the spot where the prostate
used to be. We have data from thousands of laparoscopic
and daVinci robotic prostate surgeries to show that the
surgical margins are equal to, and in some series, better
than, what we were seeing with the old open surgery. If
the surgical margins are the same as open surgery then
the only way the cancer can come back is if it spread
before the surgery was done. This pre-surgery spread of
disease will be the same no matter how the surgery is
performed. |
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