The first robotic perineal prostatectomy performed in the UK
The robotic prostatectomy continues to evolve with Mr Christopher Ogden and his team at The Royal Marsden Hospital who performed the first robotic assisted perineal prostatectomy in the UK. This approach was first pioneered by a Urological Professor from Cleveland, USA, who visited the team at The Royal Marsden to help and share his expertise.
The successful operation was performed on a 65 year old patient with prostate cancer, Gleason 3+4 in 11/28 cores. During the operation he experienced minimal bleeding and no bowel handling. He was fit for discharged the following day with minimal pain and two weeks later he had a successful trial without catheter. The histopathology confirmed the cancer was organ confined and with negative surgical margins – a very successful operation.
Compared with the more traditional retropubic approach, the perineal prostatectomy will allow patients who have had extensive abdominal surgery to undergo the operation as it avoids the abdomen altogether. It also allows the surgeon to maximise the urethral length which aids post prostatectomy continence.
Perineal surgery was previously suitable for the open approach only but following the success of this robotic perineal prostatectomy we will hopefully see a revival using the robot and our future surgeons will be trained in this approach too.
Please click here for the full article which appeared in Urology News on 1st January 2019.