Read Time: 3 minutes
Takeaways:
- Robotic surgery for bladder cancer speeds recovery, reduces pain, and improves quality of life.
- It also significantly reduces risks such as blood clots and can preserve functions like sexual health.
Impact: Huntsman Cancer Institute is helping patients return to normal life sooner through advanced robotic surgical technology.
Surgery, including full or partial removal of the bladder, is a common treatment for bladder cancer. But surgeons are increasingly turning toward robotic surgery instead of the traditional, or open, method.
鈥淭hese are tough surgeries, and there have been many advances over the years to make the surgery better for patients,鈥 says Bogdana Schmidt, MD, MPH, surgeon at Huntsman Cancer Institute and assistant professor of surgery at the . 鈥淩obotics is one of those improvements. It is still a difficult surgical operation, but I believe robotic surgery has greatly enhanced the patient recovery experience.鈥
Schmidt says robotic surgery is particularly beneficial during , or the total removal of the bladder. Radical cystectomy is the standard of care treatment for , a type of cancer that is diagnosed when tumors have grown into the muscle layers of the bladder. Muscle-invasive bladder cancer is more likely to spread and metastasize than other bladder cancers. According to the , muscle-invasive bladder cancer makes up 25% of all bladder cancer cases.
Robotics enable surgeons to make smaller cuts than in open surgery, which results in less pain and a quicker recovery for patients. Schmidt says this is particularly impactful for bladder cancer patients. According to Schmidt, the mortality rate for radical cystectomies is between 3-10%. The complication rates are between 10-15%. This is due, in part, to the older age of the patients. The at diagnosis for all types of bladder cancer is 73.
Blood clots are a common complication.
鈥淩obotic surgery has greatly enhanced the patient recovery experience."
Bogdana Schmidt, MD, MPH
鈥淎 randomized clinical trial has shown that the risk of blood clots from robotic surgery in radical cystectomies is 2% versus 8% in open surgery. That鈥檚 meaningful improvement,鈥 says Schmidt. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 say for sure, but we think it鈥檚 because people get up and move around earlier with robotic surgery. One of the best ways to prevent blood clots is to be moving, but if you鈥檙e in a lot of pain, and you鈥檙e in bed for a week, then you鈥檙e not moving as much.鈥
Schmidt says there are additional benefits to robotic surgery. For male patients, a radical cystectomy involves the removal of the prostate, as well as the bladder, impacting sexual function. The improved visualization in robotic surgery can improve nerve sparing and allow earlier sexual recovery.
Schmidt stresses that robotic cystectomies won鈥檛 necessarily impact overall cancer survival.
鈥淚 think that the oncologic outcomes for open cystectomy are as good as they are for robotic cystectomy,鈥 says Schmidt. 鈥淏ut there are so many advantages to getting back to normal function faster鈥攁nd robotic surgery helps patients get up, move, and return to a normal quality of life sooner.鈥