12-24-03 Prostate Questions on KXAN

Michelle Valles : Many think of as a death sentence, but the number one cancer killer among men is highly curable, and new robotic technology is making cancer surgery even more effective. KXAN's Dan Robertson has the story.

Dan: At Dr. Randy Fagin's north Austin urology practice, he's seeing a growing number of prostate cancer cases.

Dr. Fagin: About 250,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed annually. One in six men, statistics similar to breast cancer in women.

Dan: Caught early the disease is curable, but the key to curing prostate cancer is regular exams. That means every year starting at age 50 for most people, but at age 40 for African Americans and those with a family history of prostate cancer.

Dr. Fagin: We know that family history is important. People who have a father, brother with cancer are at four fold higher increase of developing it. Otherwise, it's a sporadic disease. We don't have any other identifiable causes, and that's why it's important that people have screening exams.

Dan: Surgery is effective against prostate cancer, but new robotic technology is making it even better.

Dr. Fagin: The highest chance of cure, the best chance for functional outcome afterwards, and the best chance for quick recovery come with prostate surgery, specifically with arthroscopic prostate surgery with the da Vinci robot.

Dan: Using 3-D imaging, the da Vinci System gives the surgeon precision never before possible.

Dr. Fagin: The robot doesn't do the surgery for you. You still have to have a surgeon that's trained in arthroscopic prostate surgery, but in that highly trained surgeon's hands, what the robot allows us to do is get around some of the anatomy and some of the challenges of the anatomy to give people better cancer surgery.

There is nothing that comes close in terms of our ability to give patients the highest cure rates and the best functional outcomes.

Dan: Dan Robertson, KXAN News36.

Michelle: Now this robotic surgical system is already available in a few Texas cities and should be here in Austin sometime next year.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• The Urology Team
• Dr. Richard Chopp
• Dr. Stephen Hardeman
• Dr. Randy Fagin
• Dr. Melody Denson
• Dr. Elizabeth Houser
• Dr. Elizabeth Rutledge
• Dr. Lester Wang
• Dr. Bryan Kansas
• Dr. Eric Giesler
• Austin
• vasectomy
• prostate cancer
• HIFU