This website requires JavaScript
Urology Oncology: Bladder and Kidney Cancer - Use of the Da Vinci Robotic Surgical Platform for Treatment

Urology Oncology: Bladder and Kidney Cancer - Use of the Da Vinci Robotic Surgical Platform for Treatment

Edited by: at 10/10/2023

Bladder cancer is the 7th cause of cancer worldwide in men and the 17th cause in women.

Dr. Carlos Vásquez Lastra

Approximately 75% of the bladder cancers that are detected are superficial, being able to be managed endoscopically and with very good results. They are the remaining 25%, invaders, those associated with high mortality and those requiring more aggressive treatments. Approximately 190,000 new cases are detected each year worldwide, with a record 38,200 deaths annually in Europe and 17,000 in the United States. The most important risk factor for bladder cancer is smoking, although infections and toxic substances, as well as genetic factors, have been identified as possible causes.

Invasive bladder cancer represents an aggressive disease that requires radical treatment in order to provide a good outcome that has an impact on patient survival. The treatment of choice is to remove the bladder and make a reservoir for the urine on the basis of a segment of intestine that can be reconstructed forming a new bladder, or as a conduit that allows the exit of the same to the abdominal wall. Traditionally it was an open surgery, with great morbidity and risk, and whose recovery was slow and painful.

Today, this intervention can be performed using robotic surgery using the surgical system called Da Vinci.

Kidney and bladder cancer: how to act?

In the United States, it is estimated that by 2017 will be reported about 63,990 new cases of kidney cancer. Approximately 14,400 people (9,470 men and 4,930 women) will die due to this disease. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the rate of kidney cancers has been increasing since the 1990s, although this appears to have leveled off over the past years. Part of this increase is probably due to the use of new imaging studies, such as CT scans and periodic review studies to which large numbers of the study population are subjected. This helps to detect the tumor in very early stages and with sizes that allows only the tumor to be resected without the need to remove the entire kidney, greatly improving patient survival.

The Da Vinci surgical system is a sophisticated robotic platform that aims to enhance the surgeon's capabilities and to perform complex surgical procedures through minimally invasive surgery.

What to expect from the procedure

By means of small incisions, a three-dimensional high-definition camera and instruments with a patented Endowrist system are introduced that allow 7 angles of movement and 90 degrees of deflection within the patient's body. The surgeon performs the surgery sitting on an ergonomically designed console with a three-dimensional view of the surgical field at all times. The advantages that allow the Da Vinci surgical platform to perform minimally invasive surgical procedures are:

  • Three-dimensional high definition vision with magnification up to 10x that allows a very clear identification of tissues and anatomical structures. It incorporates the technology Firefly, that when changing the wavelength allows to identify vascular structures outside the range of vision of the human eye
  • Surgical instruments with Endowrist technology, allowing a greater range of movement than the human hand in a reduced space
  • Incorporates a system that reduces the tremor of the surgeon's hand, as well as being able to scale a range of motion to a small space within the human body

Advantages of robotics in this type of cancer

This greater surgical precision translates into better ability to identify and preserve vital anatomic structures, decrease blood loss, shorter postoperative recovery time and shorter length of stay and, thanks to this intervention, in-hospital. Using this tool, robotic cystectomy is a simpler and more effective method of minimal invasion to treat bladder cancer. Provides patients with more accurate surgery with less complications and recovery time.

As for renal cancer, the precision of the movements and the increase in vision allows the precise resection of the renal tumor, without the need to remove the complete kidney, leaving the patient with a very adequate renal function and a very high cure rate of the illness.

Cancer: a latent reality

Kidney cancer is among the 10 most common cancers in both men and women. In general, the risk of kidney cancer during life is approximately 1 in 63 (1.6%). Risk factors can be genetic and hereditary; smoking and certain substances in food and drink also have to do with the condition.

Urology in Cuajimalpa de Morelos