Prostate Cancer: On May 3, at 5:30 p.m. CDT, during a live global webcast from Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital in Houston, Texas, urologist Andrew A. Selzman, M.D., will demonstrate the safety and efficacy of an innovative cancer-fighting procedure - robotic-assisted prostatectomy. Selzman will remove a cancerous prostate gland, using advanced robotic-assisted technology, significantly enhancing surgical accuracy with minimal bleeding, shorter hospital stays, less pain during recovery, and lower risk of side effects such as impotence. Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer in men, and only lung cancer is responsible for more cancer deaths among men. Most affected are African-American males who have an incident rate twice that of white males. The disease most frequently targets individuals between the ages of 45 and 75.
While less aggressive treatment options exist, those patients with localized prostate cancer who are otherwise healthy may choose the more comprehensive, yet less invasive robotic-assisted surgical approach. "If the cancer is contained within the organ, a robotic-assisted prostatectomy provides a less invasive way of offering a 90 percent chance that the patient will be free of cancer 15 years later," said Selzman.