The benefits of robot-assisted prostate surgery

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A comparison shows that robot-assisted prostate surgery has benefits over open surgery but the cost of equipment is an important factor.
Robot-assisted removal of the prostate gland goes a step further than minimally-invasive surgery for prostate cancer. It help eliminate surgeon fatigue and hand tremor, because a robot arm performs many of the surgeon's actions. It is becoming increasingly popular with patients.

In a comparison, the health services research agency ECRI looked at cases of prostate removal done by open surgery, minimally invasive surgery both without and with robotic assistance. This showed that the outcome in terms of cure was no different between the three approaches. But blood loss was less in both minimally invasive approaches as was length of hospital stay. The complication rate for open surgery was 15 per cent, for minimally invasive surgery without a robot 10 per cent, and for surgery with a robot only five per cent. It was not clear which method was associated with the fewest side effects like impotence or incontinence. Despite these benefits - which save on healthcare costs - robotic surgery is still expensive for the hospital because of the investment in training and equipment. If the hospital can find some other procedure which can also be done with robotic assistance, then the costs can maybe be spread.

Source
ECRI 29th August 2005

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