Prostate Center Welcome Video (Part 4)

Video: 

I know you have a lot of questions about this procedure, this technology and its outcomes. Here are some succinct answers to some of the question I hear the most.

Some of the most common questions involve things like, how long does the operation take? Well, in my hands, because we do hundreds and hundreds of these a year, it takes about an hour and a half.

How long do I need to stay in the hospital? Typically, patients stay in the hospital for 23 hours. Baring no unforeseen circumstances they can go home the next day. I expect all of my patients to be up walking around the night of the operation, walking the hallways, doing laps, getting themselves back to their normal level of activity.

People ask when can I go back to work? Well, you can go back to work when you feel up to it and it depends on the level of rigor of your work. I don't want people doing more than ten to fifteen pounds worth of work for the first three weeks after their surgery. No going to the gym and working out. No jogging. You can walk as much as you want. You can go up and down a flight of stairs. If the heaviest thing you do at your office is lift up some paperwork you can go back to the office whenever you want.

Typically for robotic surgery there's very little blood loss. In fact, unlike open surgery we don't ask our patients to donate their own blood ahead of time. We want people to come in with a full tank and leave with a full tank.

The way we measure cancer outcomes for prostate cancer surgery is with our negative margin rates. How good a job are we doing getting all the cancer out, getting a negative margin? When we look at the data from robotics surgery in the best of hands as compared to open surgery in the best of hands, robotics is doing just as good a cancer operation as open surgery. Through robotics we're able to provide the same cancer outcomes as the gold standard of open surgery with our negative margin rates but we're able to do it with less blood loss, less pain and a more rapid return to regular activities.

We do this surgery through five small port sites. These are small cuts that are anywhere between eight and ten millimetres in size. Those small cuts allow us to place our small instruments and the magnified optics through there and we do the surgery through those small incisions. Doing the surgery through small five to eight millimeter incisions means patients hurt less, it means the cognises is better. And it's allowing us to create a more rapid recovery for our patients.

Robotics is allowing us, through better vision and better precision, to see the small tissues, to see the small details better and do a better operation. If I can see it better, I can do it better. If I have better vision and better precision and I can see the nerve tissue better, I can do a better nerve sparing operation.

I typically do about 20 to 30 of these operations every month. For the last few years we've been doing over 200 surgeries per year. And I have a total experience now of over 700 laparoscopic and Da Vinci prostate surgeries as of November of 2006.

Myself and my team remain committed to robotic prostate surgery for our patients. It's what I do and what my team does all day every day. Robotic prostate surgery is not just a part of my practice. It is my commitment, my passion. It's what I do. The Hospital at Westlake is a truly amazing place. We want to create for our patients. That means the highest technology, the most advanced techniques, the best surgical team. We want to create and it goes beyond the operating room. We've been able to create better nurse to patient ratios, creating better patient care. Whether it's the saltwater fish tank in the lobby or the wood floors, the granite countertops, the 42 inch plasma screen TV's in all the patient rooms, all these things are trying to create a better patient care experience. Every single facet of the care the patient receives there is more equivalent to a five star hotel than a hospital. And it's that level of care that the patient gets after the operation that enhances their experience. This isn't just about doing the best operation possible. This is about creating the best patient experience. And by treating my patients at the Hospital at Westlake I'm able to not only deliver to them the best surgery I can, but give them the best care after that surgery as well.

My commitment to robotics surgery goes beyond the operating room. And my dedication to it has allowed me to be a contributing editor for the Journal of Robotic Surgery. I've been invited to perform my technique live for hundreds of surgeons from around the world at international meetings three years in a row. I've been able to lecture in over half a dozen countries around the world. Every day I'm continuing to work to create a better patient experience. I want my patients to have the best outcomes. Whether it's performing my technique live for international audiences, whether it's the lecturing that I do around the world, these are all ways that I'm trying to make it better for my patients. I want my patients to have the best outcomes, the best experience possible. And by doing all these things I'm working towards that. I'm continuing to work to create a better patient experience every day.

When patients choose me for their prostate cancer surgery they're not just getting my experience of hundreds of cases, they're getting the experience of my team. When I do hundreds of cases my team does hundreds of cases. And when patients allow me to perform their prostate surgery they get not only my experience but the experience of my entire team.

After surgery I see all the patients in the morning to make sure they're doing well. If they're doing well the first day after surgery just about everybody goes home. They do light activities and we come back and see each other at one week. Then we check a PSA. That PSA is our benchmark for whether or not the cancer is going to return. And we check that eight weeks after surgery and then every six months thereafter.

Some other frequently asked questions include will I be sterile after the operation? Well, yes. After a prostate surgery, you can't have any more babies. Not the natural way. Prostate surgery, when it's done with a nerve sparing technique, can allow folks to get back to full sexual function. They can achieve an erection, they can achieve a climax. They just can't ejaculate anymore so there's no more natural child birth.

We put together a survivor newsletter that we send out to the hundreds of patients that I perform prostate surgery on over the years. It allows me to stay connected with my patients and helps to empower them to know what to expect and how to better live their lives after prostate cancer surgery. Our Survivor Newsletter is allowing our patients to better cope with life after prostate cancer surgery and its part of our commitment to our patients beyond the operating room.

Sexual function recovery varies depending on what the patient brings in in terms of their underlying level of sexual function and how good a job we're able to do nerve sparing. A lot of that depends on their own anatomy. In the best case scenario when a patient has good erectile function coming in and we're able to do a good job preserving nerve function, the vast majority of patients are able to return to full sexual function post-operatively. One of the things we've done, though, is to help to enhance that sexual function outcome both short and long term. What I've done is to create a rehab program for my patients for both urinary and sexual function recovery. In doing so, we're helping the patients not only to recover that control but to recover it faster. We want our patients to be able to take control back over their lives and in doing so create better outcomes for themselves, both physically and emotionally.

The fact that I get to do robotic surgery every day allows me to stay on top of the newest techniques. I get to be a part of thought leader sessions for urology meetings. I get to lecture around the world. I get to be an editor for the Journal of Robotic Surgery. All those things that I do allow me to stay on top of what are the cutting edge techniques. What are the cutting edge technologies? What can I adapt to my patients to create the best outcomes possible?

I take a team approach to patient care. That means that not only am I committed to my patients in the operation room but our team remains committed to them after they leave surgery. A patient's experience in the operating room is a very small portion of their total experience with prostate cancer. And our team remains committed to meeting their needs before, during and after their prostate cancer surgery. We do that through our Survivor Newsletter that gets sent out to hundreds of patients around the world. All the patients who I've operated on get our Survivor Newsletter. We do that by sponsoring Us Too support group here in Austin, Texas for prostate cancer survivors. We do that by creating our rehab program to help our patients recover urinary control and sexual function after surgery. Our rehabilitation program is empowering our patients after their surgery to recover both physically and emotionally.

Due to my experience in treating hundreds of patients of prostate cancer, myself and my team have been able to help people through the fear, the confusion and the overwhelming amount of information that can be thrown at them but know that our team is going to be there for you through every step of the process.

After seeing this video, I hope you now have a more thorough understanding of the Da Vinci robotic surgery and my own experience. We discussed the Da Vinci robotic procedure. The potential it has to produce exceptional patient outcomes .My own nerve sparing techniques, an inside look at the robotic operating room and the surgical procedure itself. A tour of the state-of-the-art facilities at the Westlake Medical Center and answers to the questions I hear the most.

It's been a privilege talking with you today. I hope I've been able to share with you a little bit about Da Vinci robotic surgery. How Da Vinci robotics is changing the experience of prostate cancer and how my own experience, and the experience of our team, are changing patients' lives forever. I invite you to learn more about this at our website, www.urologyteam.com. Click on the link for Da Vinci. Thank you.