Prostate Cancer

The American Cancer Society says 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. However the earlier it’s caught, the better the prognosis. “It’s recommended that we screen men from 55 to 70 for prostate cancer with something called a PSA test,” said Dr. Chase Cavayero.

If it’s discovered in an early stage before it spreads, removing the prostate can be curative. Robotic assisted surgery has made that process better than ever for patients. “We’re just making a few small holes in the abdomen. Then we basically have to dissect out the prostate and remove the prostate and tissue surrounding the prostate,” said Dr. Cavayero.

The robot is helpful because the pelvis is a very confined space. “It’s quite difficult to do the traditional open procedure for surgeons trained in this era. It really provides wonderful access into the pelvis in a way that was never before able to be done,” said Dr. Cavayero.

Since the procedure is less invasive, the recovery is much better than it was in the past. “My patients typically go home within 24 hours, but there are many examples where patients can even be discharged home on the same day,” said Dr. Cavayero. “It’s a situation where it has truly become I would say days to weeks rather than weeks to months.” You can learn more by searching for prostate cancer on leehealth.org. 

Prostate is the most common non-skin cancer affecting American men. “At one point, it was as many as one in seven men in America would get it, and unfortunately, some men still die from it,” said Urologic Oncologist Dr. Joseph Klink.

While it can be found through a PSA blood test, there are limitations for those who are high risk. “A bone scan and a CT scan can tell if a cancer has spread, but only when it's very large, when you have big cancer nodules somewhere else. And we really couldn't find the cancer spread at an early stage,” said Dr. Klink. Until now, thanks to the PSMA PET Scan. “It's a scan. It's not an invasive procedure. All you do is lay down the machine, slide through it, and you're done…The key is that the PSMA PET scan can find these cancers when they're much smaller, much earlier in the process, and much easier to treat.”

If cancer is discovered, targeted treatment can start immediately. “It gives us the option of doing focal radiation so if there's one or two little spots, we can zap those spots with radiation and kill it get rid of the cancer spread. We don't have to wait until it gets really big and then blast an entire area and cause lots of side effects,” said Dr. Klink.

Harnessing new technology to discover and treat early-stage prostate cancer. “If you catch prostate cancer early, get it treated, get it cured, you can go on and live a normal life.” You can learn more by going to leehealth.org/cancercare.

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Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.