Prof. Dr. Ziya Akbulut from LIV Hospital Ankara Urology Department said, “Robotic surgery technology, which has increased in prostate cancer surgeries after 2018, can be intervened remotely. With the da Vinci robot used in robotic surgery, it is a system where you can use both hands very comfortably with a magnification close to 16 to 17 times in surgeries and 540 degrees of mobility.”
Prof. Dr. Ziya Akbulut from Liv Hospital Ankara Urology Department made statements about prostate cancer. Stating that Turkey ranks 2nd in prostate cancer, Prof. Dr. Akbulut said that prostate cancer is seen in one out of every 103 men between the ages of 40-59.
Akbulut stated that prostate cancer develops in one out of every 8 people between the ages of 60-79 and noted that age is an important risk factor with the increase in life expectancy and that the risk of prostate cancer increases with advancing age. Akbulut said, “Prostate cancer surgery is a type of surgery in which some functions are lost. The urinary incontinence mechanism is very close to the surgical field in prostate surgeries and needs to be well protected. In addition, the nerves that provide erection also travel on the prostate and these also need to be protected.”
Akbulut also stated that the region where the prostate is located is the back of the bony pelvis, it is difficult to reach in open surgery, the movements there are restricted, and in robotic surgery, it can be enlarged 16-17 times and can be moved with both hands. Akbulut stated that as a result of the procedures performed, a serious success was achieved in urinary incontinence, robotic surgery has become preferred in robotic surgery prostate surgeries since robotic surgery is also successful in preserving sexual functions, and currently, almost all prostate cancer surgeries in America and Europe are performed with robotic surgery.
“It has a magnification close to 16 and 17 times and 540 degrees of mobility”
Noting that robotic surgery is an increasingly widespread surgical method in the world after 2018, Akbulut said, “Thanks to robotic surgery technology, the patient can be intervened from kilometers away.”
Explaining that the Da Vinci robot developed in this context is a technically very high-level surgical technique in which magnification and hand movements are made easily as an advanced dimension of laparoscopic surgery, which was put into service to the medical world in 2005, Akbulut said, “It is a system developed to treat astronauts in space with the studies of Stanford University and there are 2 systems here, the first of which is the console where the physician and surgeon are located, and the advanced format of laparoscopy mounted on the patient. In other words, even if the surgeon is in a different place during the operation, thanks to this feature, you can perform the operation even kilometers away over the internet.”
Akbulut continued his statements as follows:
“Robotic surgery was developed and when it was very successful in the end, it was brought to the agenda to use it in the normal process because it is a system where you can use both hands very comfortably with a magnification of 16 to 17 times and 540 degrees of mobility, but legally, in the current use of the robot, the console and the doctor are in the same room, there is a second surgeon at the head of the patient, the surgeon who performs the surgery at the head of the console, and in case of any problems, which is a very rare situation, then if the patient needs to intervene openly, the surgeon himself can take this responsibility.”
“There are 45 robotic systems in our country”
Stating that robots have started to be used very widely in the field of surgery in the world, Prof. Dr. Akbulut said, “There are currently 9,300 robots in the world. Although it is a high-cost system, it has spread very quickly. In robotic surgery, 2 million 200 surgeries were performed in 2023. America and Europe are predominantly, but Asian countries almost completely have this robot system. There are 45 of these devices in our country and 23 of them are in our private hospitals, 15 in our university hospitals and 7 in the hospitals of our Ministry of Health.” Prof. Dr. Akbulut, robotic surgery is also very widely used in Turkey. In addition to these functions, he informed that robotic surgery has other benefits. Prof. Dr. Akbulut explained that with less bleeding during surgery, he can see the operation area by enlarging it, so that bleeding can be controlled very quickly and the patient can return to his daily routine life very early in the recovery period without cuts and wounds. Explaining that robotic surgery is gradually strengthening its position for these reasons, Prof. Dr. Akbulut said, “The number of robotic surgery is increasing day by day and in the following process, it is likely that other systems will develop systems similar to the system used in robotic surgery.”
Stating that he describes robotic surgery as the surgery of the future, Akbulut concluded his statements by saying that he would like to perform all surgeries with robotic surgery if it were less costly.
