New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Robotic prostatectomy - that
is the use of a robotic arm to remove the cancerous prostate gland - is
fast emerging as a reliable treatment for prostate cancer, a health
expert said here Monday.
"More and more people suffering from
prostate cancer are ready to undergo robotic prostatectomy because of
its advantages as compared to the other previous prostatectomy
procedures," Sudhir Chadda, senior urologist and chairman, Kidney
Transplant Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said in a statement.
He
said: "The earlier prostate cancer treatments like the open
prostatectomy, involved making a major incision from the belly-button to
the pubic bone. It lead to more blood loss and a longer painful
recovery, but in robotic prostatectomy finely, controlled robotic
instruments are used to perform the procedure and the patient can
recover soon."
"In robotic prostatectomy, the surgical device is
equipped with high resolution cameras which provide a 10-time magnified,
three-dimensional image of the prostate and surrounding nerves and
tissues," Chadda said and added that the micro-surgical instruments
eliminate any chance of hand tremor and also give greater flexibility
and manoeuverability.
He said that the surgery is performed with small incisions of 1-2 cm, and this radically improves post operation recovery.
"The
computer-guided movements of the robotic arms also prevent any chance
of damage to the nerves of the prostate gland, minimising the
possibility of impotency following the procedure - a risk that is
sometimes associated with traditional prostatectomy," he said.