JIHAD KAOUK, MD: The brain can read signals of pressure on the tip of the instruments and then you can know exactly how much pressure you should put, how much tension on a suture line.
ANNOUNCER: With laparoscopy the surgeon can only see what the camera sees, but that doesn't stop them from getting the complete picture.
JIHAD KAOUK, MD: It's not a limitation to be looking precisely and zooming into where you want to work, because you have always the option to zoom out and check the whole field.
ANNOUNCER: While the approach is different, both surgeries do share similarities. Both require general anesthesia. And in skilled hands, each operation will take between two to three hours. And they also share another set of problems.
JIHAD KAOUK, MD: Specific to prostate surgery, one can have urine incontinence and potency issues.
ANNOUNCER: Both surgeries are performed with the best effort to spare damage to nerves that control bladder control and erection.
JIHAD KAOUK, MD: So nerve-sparing surgery is to go in a very close plane to the prostate between the nerves and the prostate gland and remove the prostate without injuring the nerves themself.
ANNOUNCER: Which holds less risk? The jury is still out, although the scales may be tipping.
JIHAD KAOUK, MD: We have 98 percent totally dry with excellent control of urine after surgery as before surgery. And this is as good as the best open surgical results reported. For potency, there is a lot of debate and evolving results in the literature now.
