University of Virginia Health System

Media Inquiries: 434-924-5679

U.VA. SURGEONS PERFORM ONE OF THE FIRST ROBOTIC CYSTECTOMY PROCEDURES ON EAST COAST

Cancer surgery is entering a new era.  A male patient in his mid-50s with bladder cancer had his bladder and prostate gland removed by surgeons at the University of Virginia Health System on Nov. 24 in a laparoscopic, or minimally invasive, procedure using U.Va.’s new daVinci robotic surgical system.  The operation is called a robotic cystoprostatectomy. Cystectomy is the removal of the bladder.

“We were very pleased with the procedure. It could not have gone better,” said Dr. Dan Theodorescu, Paul Mellon Professor of Urology and Molecular Physiology at U.Va. “Our patient is in good condition and was up and walking around the next day. This robotic technology allows for a quicker recovery, better quality of life after surgery and provides the latest state of the art care to our patients with bladder cancer.”

Though the procedure may last longer than a normal open operation, doing the operation laparoscopically usually means that patients lose only 10 percent the amount of blood than when the body is opened surgically, Theodorescu said. Using the daVinci system can also mean a faster recovery time for patients since the incision to remove the cancerous bladder is much smaller than that used in a standard operation. Prior to the operation at U.Va., robotic cystoprostatectomy with the daVinci system has been performed at only two medical centers in the United States, Theodorescu said, in Detroit, Michigan and in Omaha, Nebraska.

According to its manufacturer, Intuitive Surgical, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California, the daVinci system is the only commercially available technology, approved by the FDA, that can provide a surgeon with the control, range of motion, visualization and fine tissue manipulation of open surgery using small ports in a minimally-invasive manner.

The system includes a console that allows the surgeon to operate while viewing 3-D images of the surgical field. The surgeon’s fingers grasp master controls that move special instruments attached to three or four robotic arms. The technology translates the surgeon’s hand, wrist and finger movements into precise, real-time movements of surgical instruments inside the patient.

Theodorescu and his colleagues perform about 70 cystectomies a year at U.Va., mostly on bladder cancer patients. The five-year survival rate for bladder cancer is about 60 percent, depending on how deep the cancer has penetrated the bladder wall. Risk factors for bladder cancer according to the National Cancer Institute include: tobacco use, age, some parasitic infections and personal history of bladder cancer. White males are also at greater risk. Common symptoms include blood in the urine, pain during urination and frequent urination. The symptoms, however, are not sure signs of bladder cancer and could be symptoms of infections, benign tumors, bladder stones or other problems.

December 8, 2003