www.nucleusinc.com This 3D medical animation on prostate cancer surgery shows the laparascopic removal of a cancerous prostate gland and its surrounding tissues. A prostatectomy is a surgery to remove an enlarged prostate gland due to benign prostatic hyperplasia or prostate cancer. Simple or radical prostatectomy can be done using open or laparoscopic techniques. ANCE00192

Robots are increasingly found in hospital operating rooms, and at Children’s Hospital Boston one surgeon says the devices are helping them perform more complex procedures less invasively and with a quicker recovery time for patients. The da Vinci Si surgical system from Intuitive Surgical consists of a large robot with multiple arms that can be equipped with different types of surgical equipment and a two-seat console where surgeons sit to operate. Dr. Hiep Nguyen, assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and director of the robotic surgery training center at Children’s Hospital Boston, oversaw a ureteral reimplantation surgery Tuesday along with a team of surgeons and nurses. The operation was performed on a 17-year-old girl because urine was flowing from her bladder back into her kidneys, resulting in infections. In the past, the procedure was done as an open surgery, where the doctor would cut a several-inch opening in the abdomen. Recovery time was typically two to three weeks and a four-day hospital stay was required.

“But with our minimally invasive surgery provided by the robot, she’s able to leave in one day, resume her normal activity in one to two days and be back in school in about seven days,” said Nguyen. Some procedures can be done laparoscopically, a less invasive type of surgery where tools and cameras are inserted into a patient through small incisions. Like robotic surgery, this also offers a shorter recovery time when compared to open surgery. However, some children are too small to be subjected to laparoscopic procedures, Nguyen pointed out, and compared to robotic surgery, the surgical field can only be viewed in two dimensions as opposed to the three-dimensional view afforded by the stereoscopic cameras on the robots. During Tuesday’s surgery Dr. Nguyen stayed close to the patient and robot, and viewed the surgery on one of several high-definition monitors. He helped guide a colleague who was sitting at the console and controlling the unit. Before moving the robot into position, the surgeon made a few incisions into the patient’s abdomen into which the tools and cameras were inserted. The surgeon operating the robot sat at a console and peered into the unit, almost like looking into binoculars or a microscope, and could view the three-dimensional video. The surgeon placed his hands on the controls below the screens and controlled the robot’s tools. There are also foot pedal controls….. (more…)

Approximately 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the United States each year. Once a patient is diagnosed, a doctor will likely discuss their prognosis, or probable course and outcome of the cancer’s influence on the body. The best way to avoid a poor prognosis is through early detection. Mesothelioma is not generally diagnosed until the latest stages of development because of the amount of time it takes for patients to display symptoms associated with the disease. In addition to this, the symptoms of mesothelioma are very general and often resemble less serious conditions, which can make the cancer difficult to diagnose. As a result, the prognosis for the majority of patients is poor, but many doctors can recommend treatment options such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to help combat the disease.

Doctors typically address the cancer in terms of stages, ranging from stage one to stage four. Unfortunately, once mesothelioma cancer has reached stage three or four, treatment options not only become more limited but less effective as well. When a patient is diagnosed with stage four mesothelioma, their health condition often rules out the possibility of surgery. Treating mesothelioma becomes more difficult the later a diagnosis occurs….. (more…)