Open vs DaVinci RP ?? / also question about Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago

kimber45

Swingshiftworker said:

Surgery Should Be Last Resort!
You've already gotten a lot of good advice, but no one has said this to you yet.

You need to investigate ALL options and IMHO surgery should be the therapy of last resort. With a Gleason 6, all avenues are open to you (including active surveillance) and, unless surgery is absolutely necessary, I recommend that you consider the potentially less damaging treatments, such as Brachytherapy, CyberKnife and Proton Beam Therapy first.

With surgery, you are almost certainly going to have issues with urinary and erectile dysfunction following the procedure and some men NEVER get regain normal urinary and erectile function afterward -- having to get a urinary sphincter and/or penile implant in follow-up surgery. Just check the many other threads on this network for stories about the problems that can occur w/surgery. Some urinary and erectile issues arise w/radiation treatments as well, but CyberKnife and Proton Beam Therapy are very focused methods of treatment which (based on reports so far) minimize the potential negative effects.

I also have a Gleason 6 and did research of all of the available treatments, including surgery, and chose CyberKnife over all of the rest.

Good luck in your search for the best method of treatment for you!

A friend of mine just asked
A friend of mine just asked a prominant surgeon from Johns-Hopkins the same question. The surgeon felt that open surgery did a better job on cleaning out the margins. He has stopped doing the robotic and only does the open surgery.Hope this helps

lewvino

kimber45 said:

A friend of mine just asked
A friend of mine just asked a prominant surgeon from Johns-Hopkins the same question. The surgeon felt that open surgery did a better job on cleaning out the margins. He has stopped doing the robotic and only does the open surgery.Hope this helps

I'm not in the medical
I'm not in the medical field...just a PC Survivor...1 year post davinci.
My opinion is that with the Davinci you can get the same results as open...the difference in the positive margins is how far the doctor 'cuts' either with the robot or with the traditional scapel.

The problem I've read is cut to far and then you have more problems with urinary control.
Cut to shallow and then higher chance of positive margin. A very fine line with either method.

I believe the surgeons skill level with either method is the key.

Larry

Skid Row Tom

kimber45 said:

A friend of mine just asked
A friend of mine just asked a prominant surgeon from Johns-Hopkins the same question. The surgeon felt that open surgery did a better job on cleaning out the margins. He has stopped doing the robotic and only does the open surgery.Hope this helps

Margins
I had surgery at Johns Hopkins in 2006 and my doctor said the same thing. Maybe it was the same doctor. He said he does robotic kidney surgery but not prostate surgery because he can get cleaner margins.

kimber45

Skid Row Tom said:

Margins
I had surgery at Johns Hopkins in 2006 and my doctor said the same thing. Maybe it was the same doctor. He said he does robotic kidney surgery but not prostate surgery because he can get cleaner margins.

Skid- I'm curious- what was
Skid- I'm curious- what was your doc's name?

Skid Row Tom

kimber45 said:

Skid- I'm curious- what was
Skid- I'm curious- what was your doc's name?

Doctor
Dr. Ronald Rodriguez.

GolfWi

Skid Row Tom said:

Doctor
Dr. Ronald Rodriguez.

Chicago Dr.
I interviewed 3 surgeons before choosing the one I wanted cutting me open. I picked Dr. Catalona at Northwestern and am very pleased with my treatment. Surgery was 7/15/10 and my follow up PSA is now 0 and use 1 pad a day just for sneeze/stress leaks. ED issues are slowly improving but nothing usable yet, nerves could not be spared on one side. Dr. Catalona does only open surgeries and as others have said is a pioneer in treatment of this disease. You can get more info on him and his philosopy at www.drcatalona.com Don't be afraid to take time and reasearch which treatment is right for you and the Doctor doing the surgery.
Best of Luck

kimber45

Skid Row Tom said:

Doctor
Dr. Ronald Rodriguez.

No - it wasn't him. But
No - it wasn't him. But that's 2 docs at Johns Hopkins that have the same opinion.