How is surgery used in the treatment of prostate
cancer?
Surgery is one of the common treatments of cancer
of the prostate. A doctor may take out the cancer using one of the following
operations. Surgery is usually reserved for patients in good health, who are
younger than 70 years of age, and who elect surgical intervention.
Radical prostatectomy is the removal of the
prostate and some of the tissue around it. The doctor may do the surgery by
cutting into the space between the scrotum and the anus (the perineum) in an
operation called a perineal prostatectomy or by cutting into the lower abdomen
in an operation called a retropubic prostatectomy. Radical prostatectomy is done
only if the cancer has not spread outside the prostate. Often before the
prostatectomy is done, the doctor will do surgery to take out lymph nodes in the
pelvis to see if they contain cancer. This is called a pelvic lymph node
dissection. If the lymph nodes contain cancer, usually the doctor will not do a
prostatectomy and may or may not recommend other therapy at this time. Impotence
and leakage of urine from the bladder can occur in men treated with surgery.
Transurethral resection is a procedure in which
the cancer is cut from the prostate using a tool with a small wire loop on the
end that is put into the prostate through the urethra. This operation is
sometimes done to relieve symptoms caused by the tumor before other treatment or
in men who cannot have a radical prostatectomy because of age or other illness.
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