This past Sunday the New York Times had an interesting article about robotic versus open prostactectomy. True the long term benefits of having the procedure done either way may be the same. Having done the anesthesia for both types of surgery, I must say that the robot technique is better. First, the anesthesia is a lot easier. It’s straight forward general anesthetic with a tube in the throat and one iv line. Blood loss is minimal. As for the laparoscopic method, well the robot surgery also requires laparoscopic instruments. It’s misleading to think that the picture of the surgeon at the robot is the only person operating. There are two other surgeons standing  by the patient operating with laparoscopic instruments at the same time. In the open method, the blood loss can be anywhere from 300 to 1500 ml. That can be a detriment to anybody with heart disease. The anethetic is  more complex. Patients may need 2 iv lines and an arterial line. Sometimes a blood transfusion. Plus the open incision is bigger, and requires a longer recovery time. Not to mention the pain from an open prostatectomy is greater. So I’m all for Intuitive surgical. Should have bought the stock when it dipped down really hard last year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/health/14robot.html?scp=5&sq=prostate%20cancer&st=cse

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 1:03 pm and is filed under In the News, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.