Often as a physician offers answers to such questions, the patient learns a good deal about TMN Staging. TMN Staging has created a scale. That scale measures the degree to which a tumor has grown. That scale can define the speed with which a doctor and patient advance toward the need for discussion of prostatectomy.
When a doctor tells a patient that his tumor is in Stage T1, then the patient can feel confident that the physician has no plans to talk about removal of the prostate. In that stage a tumor is only a tiny, almost undetectable growth.
Even after a tumor advances to Stage T2 a patient should have few worries about the need for discussion of removal of the prostate. In Stage T2 the tumor has grown to a size that can be felt by the doctor, but it is not large enough to cause undue concern. At this stage, older men watch and wait, hoping that their tumor does not advance to Stage T3.
Once a tumor has advanced to Stage T3, then the cells of the tumor threaten to burst out of the capsule around the tumor. That would cause the cancer cells to spread throughout the man’s body. That can be prevented by removal of the prostate.
If a doctor needs to talk with a prostate cancer patient about surgical removal of the prostate, then the patient’s fears might be calmed by mention of laparoscopic surgery. The decision to use laparoscopic surgery can offer a patient freedom from risks frequently associated with a surgical incision in the area of the prostate gland.
When a surgeon performs a laparoscopic procedure, that surgeon uses a very small cut. The incision does not have to allow a surgeon’s hand to work on the area of concern. The incision must simply leave enough room for insertion of a long tube, a tube with a camera on one end.
The camera light shines on the area that concerns the doctor. The pictures taken by the camera appear on a screen, a screen in the operating room. The surgeon watches that screen, as he guides the tiny instruments that have been entered the exposed area, along with the camera.
Because laparoscopic surgery uses such a small incision, it does not involve the substantial blood loss that accompanies most surgery. A reduced blood loss means less chance that the patient might need to get a blood transfusion. That is one of the big advantages of laparoscopic surgery.
Patients who undergo laparoscopic surgery have a faster recovery. They also enjoy freedom from concerns that have long troubled many men who could not avail themselves of laparoscopic prostatectomy. Men who can take advantage of the surgical advances in the field of prostate cancer do not need to worry about possible incontinence or impotence.
Relieved of those worries, a man can more easily deal with removal of the prostate.