Laparascopic Surgery New for Prostate Cancer

with Pedro Miguel Banda, M.D., Urologist, Columbia St. Mary’s

Posted: Aug. 1, 2004

Prostate cancer is the second leading cancer cause of death for males in the United States. This past year, 220,000 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed nationally and 32,000 men died of prostate cancer. Among men over 40, one in nine African American men will develop prostate cancer in his lifetime, and one in eleven white and Latino men will develop the disease. If prostate cancer is detected early, when it's still confined to the prostate gland, a man has a better chance of successful treatment with minimal side effects.

Pedro Miguel Banda, M.D., Urologist, Columbia St. Mary’s "Laparoscopic surgery is the same surgery as traditional prostate surgery. The technique is the same, but because of fiber optics, the incisions are much smaller. There is much less blood loss, which is a big advantage. The patient experiences less post-op pain. There is a shorter hospital stay, and the patient recuperates faster."

Prostate cancer screening is a simple process, said Pedro Miguel Banda, M.D., a urologist with Columbia St. Mary’s. Men over 50 should be screened yearly for prostate cancer. Screening involves a simple blood test and a rectal exam.

“African American men or anyone with a family history of the disease should be screened at age 45, ” Dr. Banda added.

Risk factors
Prostate cancer runs in families. Those with just one close male relative with the disease double their chances of also developing it. Two or more relatives with prostate cancer increase a man’s chances of developing the disease five to ten times.

The risk of prostate cancer increases with age. Symptoms are rare when the disease is in its earliest form, yet it is at this early stage that treatments have the best chance of success. It’s only later, when the cancer has advanced, that symptoms manifest.

The prostate gland is located beneath a man's bladder and behind the pubic bone and in front of the rectum. The prostate's primary function is to produce most of the fluids in semen, including the fluid that nourishes and transports sperm.

Treatment
Once it is determined that a patient has prostate cancer, various treatment options are available. Which one is used will be determined by the age and health of the patient. Hormone therapy, or androgen suppression, can be used to treat prostate cancer.

“In this type of treatment, the prostate cancer is being starved,” Dr. Banda said.

Also common in the treatment of prostate cancer in slightly older men is radiation therapy. External radiation therapy involves a machine directing radiation toward the prostate. Brachytherapy is a seed-implant radiation therapy in which the cancer is burned out from the inside. Chemotherapy and cryotherapy — freezing the prostate cancer to get control of it — are also being investigated as treatments.

Surgery options
The most effective treatment of prostate cancer is surgery, and surgery is almost always recommended for younger men who have the disease. There are two types of prostate surgery, and both involve the removal of the prostate gland. Traditional surgery involves a long incision from a man’s navel to his pubic bone. The prostate is removed and the bladder and urethra are reconnected.

This same surgery can now be done laparoscopically, however. Prostate surgery began to be done laparoscopically about four years ago, and Dr. Banda is one of just a few surgeons in the state able to do laparoscopic prostate surgery. Instead of the long incision used for traditional surgery, laparoscopic surgery involves a series of one-half centimeter to one-centimeter incisions.

Dr. Banda said that laparoscopic surgery has the same cure rate as traditional surgery, and patients experience an excellent rate of recovery of continence and erections.

We Have Answers Do you have medical questions or need help finding a doctor? The experts at Columbia St. Mary's and Advanced Healthcare can help. Click here.