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Robotic Surgery..but is it safe

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Posted 6/16/2013 10:51 AM (GMT -5)
Safe? what is in life is "safe"? But, I am now seeing lawyers ads on TV trying to recruit anybody who has had virtually any type of "DaVinci" robot surgeries for enrollment in class actions they are floating. I wonder that the very same lawyers will want robotic surgery when their time comes? You gotta love this type of irony. 
Posted 6/16/2013 2:21 PM (GMT -5)
My view is that medicine in the U.S. is a little too consumer driven, and it affects quality of treatment in lots of ways.

This leads docs to over-prescribe antibiotics because patients think they'll cure their colds, prescribing the pill of the week that's being hotly advertised on TV, and robotic surgeries -- which must be better because they're high-tech.

Patient demand for robotic surgery is pushing too many surgeons out of their comfort zone into a technique with which they've had little experience. No wonder the rates of adverse circumstances are up. As others here have said, experience is key.

Somewhere between doctors acting like gods and patients running the show must be a happy medium, but it needs to start with physician responsibility. They need to have the fortitude to say no to a patient when necessary -- and risk losing him. After that, it's up to the patient to be responsible.
Posted 6/16/2013 2:53 PM (GMT -5)
this forum has an ad for ambulance chasers advertising about taking action against robotic surgery gone bad.
Posted 6/16/2013 2:55 PM (GMT -5)
Good results never make the news.
My surgeon had over 3000 under his belt.
All treatment has side effects.
Its the surgeon, not the knife.
If I had to do it over, I'd do robotic with an experienced surgeon again.
Posted 6/16/2013 4:21 PM (GMT -5)
Hey!!! Sign me up!!!
The morning I went in for surgery I was totally normal. When I woke up, my penis prostate was gone! Clearly I was robbed!
And my butt hurt, too. No doubt I was violated while on the table. I have suffered irreparable psychological damage. Even now, 4 years later, I still pee myself when my wife enthusiastically slaps her thighs and calls: "Here boy! Want to ride in the car? Want to ride in the car? Good boy!!!" See me quivering in the corner like a bowl of jelly? I can't work under these conditions. Maybe I can try for disability too!

Do you think Shyster and Sons will take the case?

Jeff
Posted 6/16/2013 4:41 PM (GMT -5)
Good points there, Jonathan.

Jeff, any number of those kind of lawyers would love to talk to you, lol.

david
Posted 6/16/2013 4:42 PM (GMT -5)
I started seeing the class action ads a couple weeks before my surgery on 5/29/13. As I was already overly anxious it didn't make me feel any better. However, the morning of surgery I put socks on my cold feet and wife chauffeured me to hospital. My surgeon only had about 650 under his belt but I had confidence in him.

Two weeks out, I'm glad it's over, I think the folley catheter for eight days was the worst part. Still recouping, dry at night now, but get up every 60-90 minutes to empty what feels like full bladder but is probably only 10% full ( I assume that's aftermath of catheter for 8 days??)

Post Edited (Richp14) : 6/16/2013 4:40:17 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/16/2013 4:52 PM (GMT -5)
Rich, it takes a few weeks, perhaps even a few months for the bladder to work its way back to full capapcity
Posted 6/16/2013 5:43 PM (GMT -5)
Thanks for tip David, I was thinking this Wednesday I'll be 3 weeks post op and it might be time to really boost my water intake during the day to try & stretch it back to original size, or at least to where I could sleep in two 3 hour intervals??
Posted 6/16/2013 5:46 PM (GMT -5)
Trying to remember exactly but I didn't keep a diary. I know it took me 4-6 weeks to regain mental comfort in my bladder capacity. I'd drink a ton of water during the day and then slow down in the evening. First week to ten days I was definitely waking up during the night to go pee. I wasn't annoyed because I was just thrilled to not be wetting the bed. Like everything else with this treating this disease it was a process to be taken patiently. Good luck.
Posted 6/16/2013 10:50 PM (GMT -5)
Plus after prostate removal surgery, the angle of your bladder is changed, because your former prostate served as an additional mounting point, and its no longer there. Uro said depending on the new angle, feelings of urgency is a common complaint, until you, your body, and these changes adjust and adapt. For most, on a catheter for a week to 10 days, was told that really isn't long enough to change a lot in the capacity department - though to the patient, it seems that way. Being put under, has some effect, as it can takes weeks to get all those anesthesia agents to work out of your body.

I was on my original catheter for 63 days after surgery, and in my case, never had any effect on my bladders capacity. Like all things PC, varies so much patient to patient.

Good luck in the rest of your recovery.

david in sc
Posted 6/16/2013 10:58 PM (GMT -5)
The ads come from an external company that pushes things they think we will respond to. HW does not sell add space to individual advertisers.

I can't see that they are relevant to any discussion here. Lawyers are like any other salesman - if they think you'll buy in ...

Posted 6/17/2013 6:32 AM (GMT -5)
 

davidg said...
i don't think the issue is the robot, it's inexperienced and perhaps unqualified people using it.

David, I absolutely agree!! Who wants to be the first robot patient for any doctor?

Terry

 

Posted 6/17/2013 6:41 AM (GMT -5)
Richp,

It took me about 18 months post surgery to get to the point where I only get up one time during the night to pee. Now I have maybe 50% of my nights with no wake up calling. It does get better with time.

Terry

Posted 6/17/2013 7:57 AM (GMT -5)
Interesting.  I think I posted a similar link back on April 10th and got virtually no responses. 

But, in this case, I really didn't have to read more than several paragraphs before I saw that NBC was hard at work again, turning good news into bad.  When I saw they were using statistics going back to 2007 and counted "only" 89 deaths and just 200 cases of burns and infections, my first thoughts were, "Hey, that's a pretty darned good track record."

Don't we always see the claim that one out of a hundred prostatectomies results in death?  Or is it one out of 200?  In any case, given that piece of information, a doc with 3000 procedures should probably expect 30-60 deaths.

If I had the choice to make over, I'd still choose the DaVinci procedure.

Posted 6/17/2013 8:24 AM (GMT -5)
Clock,

I think the stats for deaths from RALP is one in 2000 mostly from cardiac arrest. A good surgeon and hospital should require a full heart stress test before any robotic PC surgery, mine did.

Terry

Posted 6/17/2013 8:29 AM (GMT -5)
Terry, my doc also was concerned about cardiac function.  He thought he saw something on his in-office electrocardiogram, and I ended up having a cardiac stress test, then a nuclear stress test, and finally a consult with a cardiac specialist who said, "Why are you here?  Your heart's in great shape."  Only then would my primary care physician sign off on the DaVinci surgery.

You may be correct on the one in 2000, but I'm sure I've seen one in 200 or even one in 100 figures cited here.

Posted 6/17/2013 8:43 AM (GMT -5)
I thought with either surgical method, men's hearts were tested or checkedd, has been the case with all my operations.
--------------------------------

This article was never meant to be taken so seriously by some readers here, its more typical of how the media hypes what they want, and ignores what they want - for the hopes of circulation numbers, nothing new there. The news has done that since the invention of printing.

david
Posted 6/17/2013 9:29 AM (GMT -5)
I think a stress test and cardiac perfusion test before surgery is pretty standard these days.
Posted 6/17/2013 9:57 AM (GMT -5)
I agree, Peter, even on my lesser surgical procedures, this was done 100% of the time.
Posted 6/17/2013 10:10 AM (GMT -5)
I had to have an EKG, but not a stress test

Mel

Posted 6/17/2013 10:57 AM (GMT -5)
My doctor sent me to a cardiologist to get checked out 2 weeks before my Da Vinci.
Pretty routine these days, I would guess.

Bill from Florida cool
Posted 6/17/2013 11:23 AM (GMT -5)
Clock,

My URO ordered exactly the same tests and the cardiologist told me the same thing that I wasted their time, but at least I knew that my heart and arteries were in perfect shape. The tests did show that a diagnoses I had 5 years ago of MVP ( Mitral valve prolapse) had disappeared or was misdiagnosed to begin with.

Posted 6/17/2013 1:46 PM (GMT -5)
I am thriving after my robot surgery 3 years ago. I picked a practitioner who had done 3,000 with great results at a great hospital, City of Hope. And....so far.....by grace......healthy.
Posted 6/17/2013 6:45 PM (GMT -5)
A robot used for surgery is a tool used by the doctor to do the surgery and, like any other tool, the skill of the doctor in using that tool is what is important.
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