Surgery - During Treatment
There are several surgical approaches to treating prostate cancer. The best type for you depends on several things, such as the stage and grade of your prostate cancer, your overall health, potential side effects and your personal preferences. At the Weiser Center for Prostate Cancer, our surgical oncology team will partner with you to create a treatment plan that puts you at the center of it all.
Here’s what to expect
The day before your scheduled surgery, our team will call you with instructions for what time you should arrive, which is usually two hours prior to the procedure. You will check into the pre-op area and meet with the nursing and anesthesia teams and with your surgeon.
At the Weiser Center, minimally invasive prostatectomy is performed using the DaVinci robot. This technique gives the surgeon a close-up view of the prostate and surrounding structures, and allows for precise, controlled movements. Your surgeon will make approximately five small incisions in your abdomen for the camera and robotic surgical instruments. This helps minimize scarring and speeds up recovery. The surgery itself involves taking out the prostate, seminal vesicles and usually the lymph nodes near the prostate.
It’s important to know that your surgeon – not the robot – performs the actual procedure. Your surgeon operates the robot from a console and controls all movements of the camera and surgical instruments.
With the DaVinci robot, surgeons can see and, whenever possible, preserve the nerve bundles that are essential for sexual erectile function. The tissue that runs right alongside the prostate is full of tiny nerves and blood vessels. You can think of it as a spider web-like bundle of nerves. The goal is to preserve as much of this nerve tissue as possible by leaving it undisturbed.
However, if it appears that the cancer is growing into this nerve tissue, or if the cancer is high grade, your surgeon may remove some or all of this tissue rather than risk leaving any cancer cells behind.
Your surgeon will also carefully preserve the urinary sphincter muscles which control urinary continence.
After removing the prostate, the bladder and urethra are reconnected, and a special tube called a Foley catheter is put in place to help with urinating after the surgery while the reconnected tissue heals. The removed intact prostate gland is placed into a sealed surgical bag and taken out through one of the small cuts made for the operation. This cut, typically the one just above the bellybutton, is enlarged a bit in order to fit the prostate through it. The small incisions are then closed with dissolvable sutures.
The operation itself takes around three to four hours, not counting time spent in pre-op and post-op recovery. Many people go home on the same day, but you might need to stay in the hospital for a night. Our surgical team will share regular updates with those who have accompanied you to the hospital that day.
Roughly a week after the surgery, the Foley catheter will be taken out, marking a big moment toward getting back normal bladder function. The overall recovery from the surgery generally takes around four to six weeks.
Alternative surgical procedures may be available for some patients. Your doctor will tell you if that is an option for you. Learn more here.
We are here for you.
At the Weiser Center, our team of cancer experts are with you and your loved ones every step of the way.