Laser technique may reduce prostate surgery’s sexual side-effects

Urologic surgeons at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center say a new laser technology used with robotic prostate cancer surgery may significantly reduce the risk of incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

In the procedure, the robotic instrumentation removes the patient’s prostate and is aided by the laser, which is used to dissect the plane between the nerves and the prostate, freeing the nerves and preserving them

Their findings, published in the Journal of Endourology, represent the first practical evaluation of the use of the CO2 laser in prostate cancer surgery.