Posted on 09/09/2022 6:06:42 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
In men who have had prostate cancer surgery, urinary incontinence is a common side effect. Its frequency varies from one surgeon to the next. In a major study, the number of surgeries performed by the urology surgeon made no difference to the patients' incontinence risk. This surprised researchers.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, with some 10,000 new cases detected annually in Sweden. If the tumor has not spread, the prostate gland is often operated on, usually with a robot-assisted, laparoscopic technique. Immediately after the procedure, almost all men are incontinent, because of disturbed activity in the sphincter (surrounding the upper part of the urethra) caused by the operation. This circular muscle is located just below the prostate. This urinary incontinence usually disappears after a few months, but there is a risk of it persisting.
"For other surgeries, patients of surgeons who perform the operations frequently are known to have fewer complications. It's a plausible association, since 'practice makes perfect.' But to our surprise, we couldn't see that link. In the men operated on by high-volume surgeons, the risk of postoperative urinary incontinence was no lower than in those whose surgeons were less experienced. This underlines the importance of feed-back to surgeons by use patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) in order to improve surgical technique to obtain better results," Godtman says.
One year after surgery, 14% of the men had urinary incontinence. The operations in the study were performed by 83 surgeons. For 15 of them, the patients had a lower incidence of incontinence than expected, while for six of the surgeons, the incidence among their patients was higher, regardless of how many procedures the surgeons performed during the study period.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I was treated with radiation, no incontinence thankfully
I have been to Gothenburg
the city had a central steam plant and there were pipes under the streets that sent heat to all the houses/business
The ground reindeer meat was also good.
I still don’t understand why an artificial sphincter hasn’t been invented.
I saw long ago where erectile disfunction was treated by a pump in the scrotum that would cause erection.
I would rather go to the bathroom this way, than all over myself.
“I still don’t understand why an artificial sphincter hasn’t been invented.”
Because doctors are taught to treat problems by whatever the government says to treat the problem with. They are not allowed to experiment or innovate. They are technicians who follow the government’s procedures. The government has no incentive to update their procedures. Doctors will still be doing the same things fifty years from now even if the rest of the world has moved on.
Having said that, my prostate was treated with heat. It shrank my prostate considerably and made life infinitely easier better. Although the process was invented to treat cancer it is not (or wasn’t at the time) government approved for that use and therefore if you have a cancer diagnosis you can’t be treated this way. (It works because cancer cells outrun their blood/cooling supply, but ordinary cells don’t.) It can be used to improve urine flow, which it is approved for. I asked the doctor if it could be used to treat cancer and he said that’s what he’d use if he had prostate cancer, but he wouldn’t tell anyone he’d done it for that reason.
I had my Gleason 7 prostate cancer treated with TULSA-Pro and could not be more pleased. Outpatient, painless, all functions almost normal 2 years later, PSA .371.
Dr. Stephen Scionti in Sarasota, FL. Superb doc & team. FDA approved now but not covered by insurance. Should be.
Post 7 & 8
Thanks
Thanks for that info!
I was there just the other day. They have a cool pony express station. Oh, wait, that's in Gothenburg, Nebraska.
Go to MD Anderson and you won’t have incontinence problems.
Their prostate cancer surgeons are the best. Send me a PM and I can tell you the three to ask for.
THAT PSA level is high enough that you should have it rechecked at least every six months.
Anyone with prostate cancer should look into the Nanoknife procedure invented by Gary Onik. The text below is copied from https://www.canceractive.com/article/nanoknife-ire
Since 2009, experts in America (for example, at the University of Maryland Medical Center) have been using and studying Irreversible Electroporation, a new technique for treating hard-to-reach, and often inoperable soft tissue tumours (for example, liver and pancreatic tumours).
The Nanoknife was invented by Gary Onik, a retired interventional radiologist, and is manufactured in America by AngloDynamics as a Medical Device.
What is the Nanoknife IRE?
Be clear upfront - It’s not a knife, instead, fine needles are inserted into the body, usually after a small incision. These are placed around the tumour and then a current of up to 3000 volts is passed across the needles punching holes in the cancer cell walls. This causes the cancer cells to lyse - or leak, losing their contents. That’s why it is called Irreversible Electroporation!
The Nanoknife IRE is a form of Ablation (localised Hyperthermia) and offers another option for patients who have cancerous tumours that are close to blood vessels, ducts or nerves which may otherwise be damaged using other treatments. Unlike ablation, where localised high temperatures are used and may give problems if near blood vessels, no such side-effects occur with the Nanoknife. Ablation also damages the components of the cancer cell, whereas the contents of the cancer cell are unharmed in IRE. They merely leak into the surrounding tissue, rather like bursting a balloon, to be mopped up by the immune system.
Unlike chemo, this is a non-toxic treatment.
Unlike other treatment methods that use thermal ablation - either heating or freezing - to damage the biochemistry of the cancer cell, Irreversible Electroporation, or IRE, works by directly targeting the tumour walls.
Electricity is applied through probes inserted through the skin. Most usually these are simply two or more fine needles guided into the correct position around the tumour. Ultrasound or CT imaging helps doctors guide the placement of the probes precisely. Millisecond electrical pulses are then used between the needles to open the membranes in the cell walls within the tumour.
This irreversible damage causes the cancer cells to die, while nearby nerves, ducts and blood vessels apparently remain unharmed. IRE is performed under general anesthesia. Side-effects are minimal, although at the outset there was some concern over heart irregularities.
Recovery time is usually faster when compared to some other treatments, with minimal soreness from the needles themselves. There is little scarring because of the way IRE causes the cancer cells to open and die, taking advantage of the body’s natural healing ability.
TULSA-pro shows 100% of patients had no incontinence issues at three years.
That’s a keeper!
Was .227 = zero. Docs agree. I agree.
Have MRI on 23rd this month.
ALL procedures for prostate cancer show 1/3rd of patients see cancer return years after procedure. Even radical prostatectomy. Friend who had it a year before me is now facing cancer throughout his body 3 years later.
I investigated every possible procedure & every doc told me that.
I get annual MRI in addition to PSA tests every 6 months.
My husband got HIFU (same as Tulsa) @ 6 years ago in Mexico with US doctor. Was not yet approved in US. Worked great.
Had radical over 20 years ago at Johns Hopkins. PSA still undetectable. No incontinence.
That’s great! You’re in the 2/3rds in whom it does not return........
You have made wise decisions. Sorry that your friend did not do the same.
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