Prostrate Surgery — the Pros and Cons
Non-invasive or extensive surgery? Robots or surgeon-direct?
Roni Caryn Rabin writes a good article in the New York Times today summarizing a recent study examining the pros and cons of prostrate surgery. This is a topic dear to many men’s heart (and the women who love them) as they climb into the second half of live, because there’s no denying the statistics.
Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. The latest American Cancer Society estimates for prostate cancer in the United States are for 2009:
- About 192,280 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed
- 27,360 men will die of prostate cancer
About 1 man in 6 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. So, what to do?
Well, whether you’ve been diagnosed with prostrate cancer, or have elevated PSA levels, or are simply a full-grown man, it’s time to examine your diet. Because certain diets, studies show, can improve or slow down this disease.
Research indicates that orange and yellow vegetables, such as squash, yams, and carrots, and cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cut the risk of recurrence by about half. Also helpful (according to some studies, others not) are tomatoes and pomegranate juice.
For reasons lost on me, harmful to those with elevated PSA levels or prostrate cancer are chicken skins and eggs.
If there are no other options than surgery, the glaring question becomes: what kind? It’s not so straightforward as Ms. Rabin reports:
“Prostate cancer patients who chose minimally invasive surgery rather than more extensive operations to remove the prostate were less likely to experience complications like pneumonia, but reported higher rates of long-term problems, including impotence and incontinence, according to one of the largest studies to compare outcomes to date.”
The findings show that patients had similar rates of cancer control regardless of which surgery they had.
” The men in the study — all of them 65 or older — who underwent minimally invasive surgery had shorter hospital stays, fewer respiratory complications and other surgical complications, and were far less likely to receive a blood transfusion. But they had more complications involving the genital and urinary organs immediately after surgery, with 4.7 percent having those complications, compared with 2.1 percent of open surgery patients.”
If facing prostrate surgery, you really need to dig in and find out what’s best for you. Make sure the doctor isn’t emphasizing robotic surgery cause (s)he spent $1.5 million to buy it the robot.
Read the whole New York Times article here. And if you have any insights about this topic, please let us know in the Comments Section below.
Last Updated on September 29, 2022 by Joe Garma
