3 years, 4 months ago
about Prostate Cancer
Is nerve sparing Surgery as effective as traditional surgery in treating Prostate Cancer?
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Dr. William Catalona, who has performed more nerve-sparing radical prostatectomies (3381) than anyone in the United States, said that with an experienced surgeon and effective pre-operative testing, nerve-sparing surgery has a high success rate.
Nerve-sparing surgery is not for everyone, and patients who were impotent before surgery are not candidates for nerve-sparing surgery.
"The first priority is to remove all the cancer," Dr. Catalona said. "If tests show that the cancer has spread beyond the margin of the prostate gland, the cavernous nerves must be removed because we know cancer cells travel along the spaces surrounding those nerves."
One concern of nerve-sparing surgery is the risk of not removing all the cancer.
"Theoretically, because nerve-sparing surgery preserves the soft tissues around the prostate, there is a higher risk for cancer recurrence," Dr. Catalona said.
That theoretical concern is seldom the outcome in Dr. Catalona's patients.
In studies of his patients, Dr. Catalona found that the recurrence rate for cancer is actually less in men who have had nerve-sparing surgery.
He believes that finding is a consequence of performing the surgery on men who have the most favorable conditions for the operation in the first place, and he emphasizes that early diagnosis is extraordinarily helpful in obtaining good results.
Other information on Nerve Sparing Surgery:
http://www.supportiveoncology.net/journal/articles/0502089.pdf
http://www.prostate-cancer.org/education/localdis/Tewari_NerveSparingRP_Trizonal.html
https://www.virginiamason.org/home/body.cfm?id=1050
Nerve-sparing surgery is not for everyone, and patients who were impotent before surgery are not candidates for nerve-sparing surgery.
"The first priority is to remove all the cancer," Dr. Catalona said. "If tests show that the cancer has spread beyond the margin of the prostate gland, the cavernous nerves must be removed because we know cancer cells travel along the spaces surrounding those nerves."
One concern of nerve-sparing surgery is the risk of not removing all the cancer.
"Theoretically, because nerve-sparing surgery preserves the soft tissues around the prostate, there is a higher risk for cancer recurrence," Dr. Catalona said.
That theoretical concern is seldom the outcome in Dr. Catalona's patients.
In studies of his patients, Dr. Catalona found that the recurrence rate for cancer is actually less in men who have had nerve-sparing surgery.
He believes that finding is a consequence of performing the surgery on men who have the most favorable conditions for the operation in the first place, and he emphasizes that early diagnosis is extraordinarily helpful in obtaining good results.
Other information on Nerve Sparing Surgery:
http://www.supportiveoncology.net/journal/articles/0502089.pdf
http://www.prostate-cancer.org/education/localdis/Tewari_NerveSparingRP_Trizonal.html
https://www.virginiamason.org/home/body.cfm?id=1050
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
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