Open Access

HOW I DO IT

Robot assisted radical prostatectomy: how I do it. Part I: patient preparation and positioning

Roger F. Valdivieso, Pierre-Alain Hueber, Kevin C. Zorn

University of Montreal Hospital Center (CHUM)-Hopital St. Luc, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Address correspondence to Dr. Kevin C. Zorn, University of Montreal Health Center (CHUM), 235, boul. René-Levesque Est, suite 301, Montreal, QC H2X 1N8 Canada

Canadian Journal of Urology 2013, 20(5), 6957-6961.

Abstract

Radical prostatectomy remains the standard treatment for long term cure of clinically localized prostate cancer, offering excellent oncologic outcomes, with cancer-specific survival approaching 95% at 15 years after surgery. The introduction of the “da Vinci Robotic Surgical System” (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) has been another important step toward a minimally invasive approach to radical prostatectomy. Technologic peculiarities, such as three-dimensional vision, wristed instrumentation with seven degrees of freedom of motion, lack of tremor, a 10x-magnifcation and a comfortable seated position for the surgeon has added value to the surgeon and patient. In this frst part of a two article series, we describe preoperative patient preparation and positioning protocols for robot assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) that are currently used in our institution (University of Montreal Hospital Center (CHUM)–HopitalSt-Luc). We use the four-armda Vinci Si Surgical System. Our experience with RARP is now over 250 cases with the senior surgeon having performed over 1200 RARPs and we have continually refned our technique to improve patient outcomes.

---

Keywords

---