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Re: Aborted Robotic Surgery

Charlie,

Sorry to hear about your situation. Did Dr. Lee ask you about any previous surgeries before scheduling the procedure?

Regards, David

Re: Re: Aborted Robotic Surgery

Yes, I informed him about the appendectomy. Having done over 2000 robotic prostatectomies, he didn't envision any problem. He was totally surprised to see the amount of adhesions he ran into. When I met with him following the surgery, he said "Are you sure you didn't have any other abdominal surgery"? Of course, my answer was no.

Charlie

Re: Aborted Robotic Surgery

On this question of adhesions and scar tissue caused by previous surgery. The uro I am seeing now to monitor the prostate tissue left behind after my Da Vinci, says that if he does a biopsy on me in the event of my PSA trending up, he will do a template biopsy, trans perineal. (Using a similar template to the ones they use in brachytherapy, I think).

I am told that the reason for this is that with such a small amount of prostate, there is a risk of "welding" it to the colon if they go through the rectum for a conventional biopsy. If it becomes fused or welded to other tissue, then, if they have to HIFU (or radiate) the remnant, they can't avoid hitting other tissue they would rather leave alone. Somebody out there correct me if I have this wrong.

I'm not a doctor, but the more I think of what happened to me (and Paul A), the more I think all guys - especially newly diagnosed - should make a thorough NUISANCE of themselves by quizzing the medics about (a) whether to operate and (b) if the medic is gung ho about operating, just how many unforseen problems did he encounter in his career and what was the outcome. How good will he and the robot be with scar tissue if there is any there.

See I'm now told that even a biopsy through the rectum IN MY CASE (not necessarily anyone else's)could cause problems for HIFU or radiation. So I think we now have to ask not only should we have the surgery but if we go for that, should it be Da Vinci?

The problem is that even if there is a good reason for doing open surgery (e.g. scar tissue from previous operations or simply the robot breaking down mid procedure), there are going to be fewer and fewer surgeons capable of doing it. Charlie's guy and mine were at the peak of their careers and yet both said that open wasn't their skill anymore.

Ted from England

Re: Re: Aborted Robotic Surgery

This is my first post.

I had my Da Vinci surgery 8 weeks ago. I was concerned about the Robot stopping and asked my Dr. about the possibility of open surgery. He told me that one of the other urologists from his practice group was going to be present during the operation. The other surgeon had 18 years experience with open surgery and if something went wrong with the Da Vinci, they would not stop, but go ahead with the open surgery. Fortunately for me, everything went well. I thought it was standard proceedure to be ready for the open in case of problems. I also know that my surgeon said that he has never had a problem with the Da Vinci proceedure in over 130 surgeries.

JP Williams
Tunkhannock Pa - USA

Re: Aborted Robotic Surgery

Thanks to all for you comments over the past several weeks. Here is an update. I had an appointment on Nov 24 with Dr. Alan Wein, Chief of Urology at Univ of Penn Hosp. He ordered a series of MRI studies to determine the extent of adhesions. I had a follow up appointment with him today. He informed me that the MRI report indicated that I had a large presence of fatty tissue (lipomatosis) in the region of my bladder and prostate. He said he could still perform the open surgery, but that the fatty tissue would likely cause more bleeding than normal. Nonetheless, he recommended that I see a radiation oncologist before I decide on the surgery. That appointment is tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Charlie Fenstermaker

Re: Aborted Robotic Surgery

Charlie,
It is not unusual for Robotic surgery to convert to open. I had an excellent surgeon (performed the most LARPs in Nebraska)who ran into complications. I had a double fracture of the pelvis in '94. He said trying to get to the prostate and lymph nodes was similar to pouring molasses on a newspaper, then trying to separate the pages. I was in surgery for almost 4 hours and in the hospital for 5 days. The tumor had attached itself to the rectum wall. I'm sorry you have to go back in to surgery. This is major surgery and you can't just bounce back from it.

Mark

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