Men who have been diagnosed with cancer of the prostate or who have symptoms suggesting that may have a problem with their prostate gland should be aware that they have health care options that include state-of-the-art laparoscopic and robotic prostate surgery.

I just spent time with a client as he recounted his ordeal with prostate cancer over two years ago, and I was struck by the fact that there were treatment options of which he was completely unaware. I was also struck by the fact that the way that his treatment process was described to him was frequently inconsistent, leaving him confused by many different scenarios presented to him as he moved from step to step throughout the process. To this day he remembers feeling “…as if the ground was always moving beneath him…” and he continues to live in fear that “…they didn’t get it all…” or “…it will for sure come back…” I felt sad that he had been left so confused by his providers, and talked at length about the treatment options for prostate cancer. I vowed that no patient would leave my office without knowing all of the options available to him!

International Health Care Providers connects its patients with the most up to date therapies available today. Prominent among these is the three-dimensional technology found in the operating rooms of our hospital partners; employing robotic technology, these techniques take modern prostate surgery to new level.

Robotic technology figures prominently in the spectrum of therapeutic techniques at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, housing the Vattikuti Urology Institute. To date, the Institute has performed more than 2,000 cases in this manner, and continues to perform more robot-assisted prostatectomies than any other hospital in the world.

With this procedure, the patient’s pain and blood loss, together with the risk of incontinence and impotence are significantly reduced. Recovery times in the hospital and at home are much shorter with this technique. With traditional radical prostatectomies, patients are expected to be in the hospital for two or three days. With robotic prostatectomy, most patients can safely be discharged one day after surgery.

Speaking of Henry Ford’s new operating suite for robotic surgeries, Mani Menon, M.D., director of the Vattikuti Urology Institute, says,
“This operating room is going to change the way operations are done. It is light years ahead of anything else that exists in the world.”

If I should have cancer, I want my care to be the most modern available – and I want no less for our patients! Dealing with cancer is one of the most stressful life experiences that patients will ever have. They deserve a thorough understanding of their options and the knowledge that their care is a the forefront of medical therapy. With care of the caliber of the Vattikuti Institute, Canadian men can face the challenge of a diagnosis of prostate cancer with confidence. For Canadian men, the quality option is just across the border….without the wait!