Prostate cancer: From robotic surgery to watchful waiting
Print
Backus Hospital is the only hospital in New London and Windham counties to offer robotic surgery.
One in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and approximately one in 35 men will die from it. To improve early detection, the American Urological Association recommends men begin talking with their doctors about the PSA blood test at age 40, and based on their health, family history and other risk factors, decide when would be best for them to undergo the test.
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a substance produced by the prostate gland, part of the male reproductive system. The prostate is about the same size as a walnut and weighs about an ounce.
With prostate disease, inflammation, or trauma, greater amounts of PSA enter a man’s bloodstream. This elevated blood PSA level has become an important marker of many prostate diseases including benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), prostatitis (an infection of the prostate) and prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer can only be diagnosed by a biopsy. Before doing a biopsy, doctors will consider patient age, PSA levels, family history, ethnicity and other factors. There are no symptoms in early prostate cancer.
Not all prostate cancer cases require immediate treatment; doctors may recommend active monitoring, or watchful waiting.
More aggressive cases of cancer can be treated with radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, cryotherapy (freezing the prostate), or robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. Radiation therapy may be administered by external beam or brachytherapy (seed therapy). Backus also offers Image Guided Radiation Therapy and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy to treat prostate cancer patients.
To learn more about the robotic surgery options offered at Backus, go to backushospital.org/davinci
Dr. T. Casey McCullough
SAVE THE DATES
• Demonstration of the daVinci robotic surgical system
Where: Mohegan Sun, Shops Section B, near the waterfall. When: Sept. 22. The robot will be available all day, followed by an evening program for referring physicians who want to learn more about the capabilities and benefits of the surgical system. Dr. T. Casey McCullough, (below) a board-certified urologist specially trained at Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, will demon- strate the robotic system and offer “test drives.”
• Free community prostate screening
When: Saturday, Sept. 25, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Where: Ambulatory Medical Care Unit, across from the main entrance informa- tion desk at Backus Hospital.
There will be a PSA lab test drawn and a prostate exam by Franklin Friedman, MD, a urologist on the Backus Medical Staff. Registration is required. Call 860- 889-8331, ext. 2495 for an appointment.