Baptist Health System offers first Robotically Assisted Prostatectomy Surgery in San Antonio
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. For men facing surgery to remove prostate cancer, a new world-class surgical tool offered at St. Luke's Baptist Hospital in the South Texas Medical Center offers an alternative to traditional prostatectomy with many advantages over open surgery. Robotically Assisted Surgery means smaller incisions, faster recovery and in most patients quicker continence return and less incidence of impotence.
Surgeons experienced in robotic procedures can operate in a minimally invasive fashion using laparoscopy and 3-D magnified vision. The robot system translates the surgeon's motions into tremor-free, finely-scaled actions with equal cancer-related outcomes compared with open surgery.
Expertly trained surgeons have performed almost 600 robotically assisted prostatectomies at St. Luke's Baptist Hospital.
Advantages of Robotic Prostatectomy
For qualified candidates, robotically assisted prostatectomy offers numerous potential benefits over the traditional open prostatectomy, including:
- Shorter hospital stay
- Less pain
- Less risk of infection
- Less blood loss and transfusions
- Less scarring
- Faster recovery
- Quicker return to normal activities
About the Technology
The da Vinci ® Surgical System is powered by state-of-the-art robotic technology. The System allows your surgeon’s hand movements to be scaled, filtered and translated into precise movements of micro-instruments within the operative site. The magnified, 3-dimensional view allows the surgeon to perform precise surgery in complex procedures through small surgical incisions.
The da Vinci ® System enhances surgical capabilities by enabling the performance of complex surgeries through tiny surgical openings. The System cannot be programmed nor can it make decisions on its own. The da Vinci ® System requires that every surgical mauveuver be performed with direct input from your surgeon.
The da Vinci® Surgical System has been successfully used in thousands of prostate cancer procedures world-wide.
Read more about the da Vinci® Surgical System.
Watch a Procedure
For many patients approaching surgery, it is often difficult to visualize what is entailed in a specific surgical procedure. This video offers a 3-dimensional simulation of the male reproductive anatomy, the enabling technology—the da Vinci ® Surgical System—and the procedure itself.
Click on the image to the left or the link below to begin the video presentation. You will need to have Windows Media Player installed on your computer.
Watch video
Find a physician trained in using this technique.
Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer cells grow in the prostate gland.