GEORGETOWN PHYSICIAN UPDATE NEWSLETTER
May/June – Volume 1, Issue 3
Laparoscopic Procedure Offers Quicker Prostate Treatment
Patients with localized prostate cancer have long relied on surgical removal of the prostate for treatment. But now, a procedure known as laparoscopic prostatectomy offered at Georgetown University Hospital allows men with prostate cancer a faster and less uncomfortable method of treatment.
The procedure, performed by Drs. Robert Mordkin, director for the Center of Laparoscopic Urology, and John Lynch, MD, chair, Urology, uses minimally invasive surgical techniques, which result in a shorter hospital stay, quicker recovery, and significantly less blood loss, scarring and post-operative discomfort.
"We insert instruments through extremely small puncture wounds in the abdomen, so we can control these instruments outside of the patient," Dr. Mordkin explained. "In the traditional method, the patient must be opened up during surgery."
No more than four to five small incisions are made during surgery and the largest incision measures a centimeter and a half. And while the average hospital stay for traditional prostate surgery is at least two nights, patients undergoing a laparoscopic prostatectomy are only required to stay one night. "They can return to normal activity considerably quicker," Dr Mordkin said, adding that catherization time is also shorter, averaging five to seven days versus three weeks with the traditional approach.
Drs. Mordkin and Lynch have been performing this procedure, through Georgetown's Center for Laparoscopic Urology, for nearly a year. The center focuses on minimally invasive procedures to treat urologic diseases, such as kidney and prostate cancer.
Laparoscopic prostatectomies have been performed in France for years, but are not widely available in the United States-Georgetown is the first hospital in the local Washington metro area, other than the National Institutes of Health, to offer the technique. The reason, Dr. Mordkin said, is because it is difficult to master. "It has a very steep learning curve," he said. With this procedure available at Georgetown, community physicians now have a closer option for patients with urologic diseases.
-N. Martinez
For more information, call (202) 342-3300, or (800) 442-4200 out of the area. The Center for Laparoscopic Urology can be reached directly at (202) 444-4922.
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May/Jun 2002
