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User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 13:12

HI new to all this

IM 58 and been diagnosed with prostate cancer just over a week ago .

A real shock as i had none of the  symptoms your told to look out for and felt fine  Ive been advised that best option for me is prostatomy because of me age. My local hospital does not do robot assisted ops and ive been told this is the best opton  

So advice please on does robot assited surgery give better result than hand held   or is it more about the surgen who preforms the procedure .And can  anybody point me in the right direction to find the right surgen experienced  in this procedure..I live in the colchester area..

User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 13:12

HI new to all this

IM 58 and been diagnosed with prostate cancer just over a week ago .

A real shock as i had none of the  symptoms your told to look out for and felt fine  Ive been advised that best option for me is prostatomy because of me age. My local hospital does not do robot assisted ops and ive been told this is the best opton  

So advice please on does robot assited surgery give better result than hand held   or is it more about the surgen who preforms the procedure .And can  anybody point me in the right direction to find the right surgen experienced  in this procedure..I live in the colchester area..

User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 13:42

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the club that nobody wants to be a member of! A surprising number of us here have had no symptoms. It's good being diagnosed without symptoms - if you're not diagnosed until symptoms appear the disease is often much more advanced by that stage.

Open and robot-assisted surgery have very similar outcomes; the benefit of robot-assisted surgery is the much shorter recovery time, because you end up with far shorter incisions and fewer abdominal muscles are cut during surgery.

You're absolutely right in thinking that surgeons who perform high volumes of prostatectomies have better outcomes. I'm afraid I can't help you find a surgeon; hopefully someone else here in your area will be able to assist you. Just to note, though, we aren't allowed to mention the names of medical staff here, although naming hospitals is fine.

If you haven't already done so, I'd strongly recommend downloading all the useful information that's available on this site - it's an invaluable resource. If you have any medical questions, the PCUK nurses (the Freephone number at the top of the page) are wonderful and extremely helpful.

Very best wishes,

Chris

Edited by member 14 May 2019 at 13:44  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 14:49

Yes the surgeon is the most critical part.  Your existing hospital may have very good surgeons.  Many of them are listed in the British Assiation of Urological Surgeons website linked below if you find the list.  This tells you how many ops they've done.  Some people say they need to have done 1000s of ops and 100s a year. Although others say if they do 2 a week over many years they're good enough.  I'm in the latter camp.

 

https://www.baus.org.uk/patients/surgeons://www.baus.org.uk/

If you're really keen to get the best and your diagnosis isn't urgent you may look further afield or even privately.  You might add your diagnosis to your profile.  All the best. Peter

 

Edited by member 14 May 2019 at 14:52  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 15:13

My brilliant surgeon, Professor Whocannotbenamedhere has done over three thousand prostatectomies, and now does 300 to 400 a year around the world.

He said he wouldn’t send a friend or family member to any surgeon who does less than 100 prostatectomies a year.

Order or download the ‘Toolkit’ information pack from this website. If you click on our web names, you will get full information about the experiences of most of the correspondents here.

Best of luck.

Cheers, John

Edited by member 15 May 2019 at 05:41  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 18:17

Hi Paul,

I concur with others, picking the surgeon is the most important, so an experienced key hole surgeon for key hole surgery or an experienced RALP surgeon for robotic.

Also I would choose a hospital where there is a centre of excellence in urology and more specifically, carrying out the procedure you've chosen. 

So I would cast your net to Cambridge and London.

Flexi

 

 

 

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User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 13:42

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the club that nobody wants to be a member of! A surprising number of us here have had no symptoms. It's good being diagnosed without symptoms - if you're not diagnosed until symptoms appear the disease is often much more advanced by that stage.

Open and robot-assisted surgery have very similar outcomes; the benefit of robot-assisted surgery is the much shorter recovery time, because you end up with far shorter incisions and fewer abdominal muscles are cut during surgery.

You're absolutely right in thinking that surgeons who perform high volumes of prostatectomies have better outcomes. I'm afraid I can't help you find a surgeon; hopefully someone else here in your area will be able to assist you. Just to note, though, we aren't allowed to mention the names of medical staff here, although naming hospitals is fine.

If you haven't already done so, I'd strongly recommend downloading all the useful information that's available on this site - it's an invaluable resource. If you have any medical questions, the PCUK nurses (the Freephone number at the top of the page) are wonderful and extremely helpful.

Very best wishes,

Chris

Edited by member 14 May 2019 at 13:44  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 14:49

Yes the surgeon is the most critical part.  Your existing hospital may have very good surgeons.  Many of them are listed in the British Assiation of Urological Surgeons website linked below if you find the list.  This tells you how many ops they've done.  Some people say they need to have done 1000s of ops and 100s a year. Although others say if they do 2 a week over many years they're good enough.  I'm in the latter camp.

 

https://www.baus.org.uk/patients/surgeons://www.baus.org.uk/

If you're really keen to get the best and your diagnosis isn't urgent you may look further afield or even privately.  You might add your diagnosis to your profile.  All the best. Peter

 

Edited by member 14 May 2019 at 14:52  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 15:13

My brilliant surgeon, Professor Whocannotbenamedhere has done over three thousand prostatectomies, and now does 300 to 400 a year around the world.

He said he wouldn’t send a friend or family member to any surgeon who does less than 100 prostatectomies a year.

Order or download the ‘Toolkit’ information pack from this website. If you click on our web names, you will get full information about the experiences of most of the correspondents here.

Best of luck.

Cheers, John

Edited by member 15 May 2019 at 05:41  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 18:17

Hi Paul,

I concur with others, picking the surgeon is the most important, so an experienced key hole surgeon for key hole surgery or an experienced RALP surgeon for robotic.

Also I would choose a hospital where there is a centre of excellence in urology and more specifically, carrying out the procedure you've chosen. 

So I would cast your net to Cambridge and London.

Flexi

 

 

 

User
Posted 14 May 2019 at 20:38
Do you know where your regional cancer centre is, Paul? That would probably be a good place to have your surgery performed.

Cheers,

Chris

 
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