Before your Surgery

At your first out-patient consultation appointment, we will normally ask you to complete a couple of forms to assess your urinary symptoms and erectile function. We would ask you to attend with a reasonably full bladder so that you can perform a urine flow test.

We will take a detailed history including any other medical conditions you may have and if you take any regular medication (it would be useful if you could bring a list of your regular medications).

We will carefully counsel you with respect to the treatment options for your prostate cancer taking into account the results of the prostate biopsy and any staging investigations you have had.

We will discuss the robotic radical prostatectomy in detail, highlighting the benefits and risks of surgery, and discuss our results with you.

We recommend that you maintain your fitness with your regular exercise regime as this will assist your recovery post-surgery.

You will be seen by Lisa Geoghegan who will instruct you how to perform pelvic floor exercises. It is important that you commence these exercises straight away, as this will greatly assist with your continence recovery post surgery. Lisa Geoghegan will also go through the pre-operative medications that you will need to take the night before and the morning of your surgery.

We recommend that you maintain your fitness with your regular exercise regime as this will assist your recovery post-surgery.

Once you have decided that you wish to proceed with robotic surgery, we will arrange a suitable date for your operation. We will arrange for you to attend the pre-assessment clinic for routine pre-operative checks, which involves blood, urine and ECG (heart tracing) test, and if necessary a review by Dr Vishal Patil (Consultant Anaesthetist).

You will normally be asked to arrive at 07.00 on the day of your operation. If this is likely to be difficult due to the distance from your home, then we can provide you with details of accommodation locally for the night before your operation.

After admission, you will be seen by members of the medical team which may include the Consultant, Specialist Registrar, House Officer and your named nurse. You will be given tablets called ranitidine. One is to be taken the evening before surgery and one to be taken the morning of surgery. You shall be given a couple of Glycerine suppositories, one to take the evening before and one on the morning of surgery.

You may have clear fluids until 5am on the morning of surgery. Please discuss with your nurse in pre-assessment which drugs you need to take on the morning of surgery.

Before your procedure, the anaesthetic team will visit you to ensure that they have no concerns about anaesthetising you. You are encouraged to ask them questions at this stage about any concerns or issues you have concerning the anaesthetic.