Prostate removal includes both prostate cancer surgery, such as the minimally invasive surgery called da Vinci prostatectomy, and enlarged prostate treatment, such as the minimally invasive transurethral resection of the prostate and the green light laser that alleviates urinary frequency. When prostate cancer is found, men have several choices to make, they can chose to destroy, remove, slow down, or just monitor the growth of the prostate cancer. Prostate removal has traditionally been the gold standard method for treating prostate cancer. When enlarged prostate symptoms such as urinary retention, frequent urination, and even blood in urine or microhematuria become too persistent, men again, have several choices to make, they may chose to take medication to shrink the enlarged prostate, or remove the over grown prostate tissue that is creating the above prostate enlargement symptoms. When medications to shrink the prostate do not work then cutting out and cauterizing the excess prostate tissue or vaporizing the blocking prostate tissue with a green light laser or the Prostiva radio frequency therapy is performed for this partial prostate removal.

Prostate Removal Evolves

Prostate removal can be performed in several ways, the very first prostate cancer surgery or traditional surgical method was manually using scalpels, clamps and sutures to perform the operation. Many lives were saved as urologists throughout the world started to perform this new surgery. The surgical entry site was either through the belly (abdomen) or the surgical entry site was between the legs, scrotum and rectum. This traditional surgery is called an open prostatectomy. Practical concerns expressed by patients and doctors pushed engineers, scientists, philanthropists, and clinical cancer research programs to try and create better surgical tools to minimize, the length of stay in the hospital, blood lose, pain, and scarring. Minimally invasive laparoscopic prostatectomy was the result. With open prostatectomy, a large incision is made, so that hands and large surgical tools could fit, while working on the prostate. The incision also needed to be large so that a full view of the surgical site was available. Laparoscopic prostatectomy has made surgery into a procedure that involves making a few small holes in the abdomen. The laparoscopic surgery is performed with miniaturized instruments that fit in thin tubes along with a miniature camera that allows the surgeon to see the surgery up on a monitor.

Prostate removal evolved and the benefits are clear, however urologists needed training and many surgeries to learn how to use the new technology, as in many other fields, not every surgeon made the transition, while other people felt they had even better solutions to offer. This desire to create a more refined and better controlled minimally invasive surgery led to the robotic prostate surgery called da Vinci prostatectomy.