Remove part of the prostate?????

Michael has a co-worker and her husband is scheduled to have a da vinci prostatectomy in the near future, but are now getting a second opinion because their URO has done less than 100 da Vinci procedures. Anyway, the URO tells them he is only going to take out part of his prostate. I didn't know this was even an option and how can it be a good option? My understanding is that he is telling them he will only take part of the prostate to minimize side effects! WHAT???? Is this valid? I don't know much about his stats but he is Gleason 6.

Input that I can share with them? Questions to have them ask?

Thanks in advance
Susan

I totally agree with you. When Michael told me where they were going to have the surgery, I told him to share with them that they needed to find a different DR. The hospital they are planning on going to has just gotten the Da Vinci machine within the past few months, so no one using it is really past training in my opinion. I wouldn't let them operate on me or anyone I love that this point.

I will ask if they mean the nerve bundles. That would make sense, but I am right in thinking that you don't just take part of the prostate. That seems crazy to me. You couldn't just take part because they wouldn't be able to isolate the cells enough to know if they missed any, right???? I will find out if the wife just meant they wouldn't remove the nerve bundles. She is just learning the vocabulary, and even though Michael has gone through it, he doesn't really know all that you guys have taught me. I will look into that. Thank you!!!

Any other ideas?

As I understand it, they sometimes do remove part of the prostate, but not for prostate cancer. They sometimes do this for an enlarged prostate.

It makes sense that the doc may have been talking about sparing the nerves and he somehow translated that into taking part of the prostate. It's a good argument for having someone with you when you first see the urologist after biopsy. In the stress of the moment, I bet a lot of patients get significant details wrong.

BTW, I agree with the consensus on 100 Da Vinci surgeries not being enough.

I have never heard of leaving part of the prostate on purpose when involving a RP for PC. We had one poor brother here a few years ago (also from SC), that an inexperienced surgeon left a lot of cancerous prostate behind, then covered up his blotched surgery by rushing him to radiation. We haven't ever heard from him again, but he was left in a terrible state of affairs, and was in the midst of a very justifiable malpractice lawsuit.

I wouldn't say leaving one or both nerve bundles as "leaving part of the prostate" behind, but sounds like this needs to be clearfied before any surgery were to happen.

I would also agree, whether it be robotic surgery or open surgery, I wouldn't be comfortable having surgery done as complex as an RP, with a surgeon that only had 100 or so under his belt. Just my take.

Good luck, and be sure to ask as many questions as you need, before you make that plunge ahead.

David

Fairwind has it correct, I had Targeted Focal Therapy (TFT) at the Universiy of Colorado in Denver. My procedure used cryotherapy. Only the cancer was treated. So I have about 80% of my prostate still. Quality of life is excellent, no urinary or sexual side effects. The procedue is done on low to moderate risk patients. I have attached the U of C website. My story is in the news section of the site. 3dprostate.com/