This week I observed a very invasive prostatectomy. The
patient was an elderly male with a history of prostate cancer. After having
removed the prostate the surgeon discovered a large radiation induced fistula
in the colon. The surgeon ended up having to remove the patient’s rectum and
create a neo-bladder from a part of the patient’s colon. The process of
creating the neo-bladder was very time consuming and labor intensive, it also
requires an extended time for rehabilitation and healing. The surgeon stressed
the need for good and reliable artificial bladders to use for situations like
this, allowing the patient to recover faster and the procedure to be less
invasive. He also stressed the importance of trying to maximize patient quality
of life and pointing out that preserving the patients continence is a major
factor in a case like this.
I also attended a tumor board meeting with several surgeon
and oncologists presenting cases from the previous week.
Dr Osborne wants me to work on some cell culture for animal
studies of prostate cancer. I will be helping one of his techs with setting up
the culture.
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