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Robotic assisted radical prostatectomy for localised prostate cancer in thalidomide generation

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Abstract

Thalidomide was used in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a sedative for morning sickness in pregnant women. It resulted in thousands of babies being born with various congenital anomalies, such as phocomelia. Subsequently, the drug was banned for this indication. Most of the survivors have become thalidomide adults and now they are in their fifties. We report the first case of a robot-assisted radical prostatectomy in a 54-year-old male with prostate cancer and phocomelia as a result of thalidomide embryopathy. He presented with a PSA of 3.3 and was diagnosed with Gleason 3 + 4 prostate cancer. An extra peritoneal approach was chosen due to his body habitus and to avoid extreme Trendelenburg tilt. Side docking with the da Vinci robot was employed and the prostatectomy was carried out in the standard extra peritoneal fashion. At 6 months’ follow-up his PSA is unrecordable and he is voiding well with minimal urinary incontinence, requiring 1 pad/day. We aim to outline our approach and highlight the technical modifications in this rare physically disabling condition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Trust, Egerton Road, Guildford, GU2 7XX, UK

    Venkata Ramana Murthy Kusuma, Annelisse Ashton, Dimitrios Moschanos, Krishna Patil & Matthew Perry

Authors
  1. Venkata Ramana Murthy Kusuma
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  2. Annelisse Ashton
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  3. Dimitrios Moschanos
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  4. Krishna Patil
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  5. Matthew Perry
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Correspondence to Venkata Ramana Murthy Kusuma.

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All authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. "Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this Case Report and any accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal".

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Kusuma, V.R.M., Ashton, A., Moschanos, D. et al. Robotic assisted radical prostatectomy for localised prostate cancer in thalidomide generation. J Robotic Surg 12, 373–376 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-017-0739-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-017-0739-4

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