Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer found in American men, other than skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 16 percent of men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetimes.
The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system located just below the bladder and in front of the rectum. It is about the size of a walnut and surrounds the urethra (the tube that empties urine from the bladder. The prostate gland produces fluid that makes up part of the semen.
Prostate cancer has a high cure rate. One of the most common treatments is a radical prostatectomy, the removal of the cancerous prostate gland and certain surrounding structures.
A traditional prostatectomy requires an 8- to 10-inch incision and can result in substantial blood loss, a lengthy recovery, the risk of impotence and incontinence.
However, by using laparoscopic surgical techniques, surgeons enter the body through several dime-shaped incisions. This minimally invasive surgery aims to accomplish internal repair while leaving the body surface as natural as it was prior to surgery.
Read about the
benefits of the daVinci Laparoscopic Radical Prostectomy