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Volume 20, Number 4 • October 2007		 Arrow Bullet Return to Table of Contents
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Robotically assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: a brief review of outcomes

Matthew D. Shuford, MD

Since the article has no abstract, the first 120 words are shown.

Over 75,000 radical prostatectomies were performed in the USA last year for the treatment of prostate cancer. Most of these were performed by radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP), the gold standard for treatment of this disease. However, the quest for increased efficacy and decreased morbidity is having as profound an impact on the treatment of prostate cancer as in any other area of medicine.

There are two unique factors at work in the search for decreased morbidity in prostate cancer treatment. The first is the high prevalence, since prostate cancer is diagnosed in 1 in 6 men during their lifetime. The second involves the well-known side effects of incontinence and erectile dysfunction, whose impact is often more crippling psychologically than physically.