Saint Joseph's Hospital Announces First Radical Robotic Cystectomy

ATLANTA (January 2010) – Saint Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta recently performed its first robotic radical cystectomy, a surgical procedure to treat invasive cancer of the bladder. Dr. Rajesh Laungani, Director of Robotic Urology at Saint Joseph's, performed the minimally-invasive surgery. "This is an uncommon procedure due to its complexity," said Dr. Laungani.

Invasive bladder cancer has a very high mortality rate and generally results in death if not treated. During a radical cystectomy, the entire bladder (and prostate, if the patient is male) is removed. "Performing this robotically allows for a minimally invasive approach," says Laungani. "The advantages include less blood loss, less pain, and quicker recovery. Just as importantly, it provides comparable rates of cancer cure as compared to more traditional surgery."

Dr. Laungani is a fellowship trained urologist, specializing in minimally invasive and robotic urology. He serves as the Director of Robotic Urology for Saint Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta and he is Chairman of Saint Joseph's Hospital Prostate Cancer Center, the only such center in the state of Georgia. The Prostate Cancer Center includes a team of fellowship-trained surgeons and one of the most experienced robotic teams in the country.

In 2004, Saint Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta was designated as the exclusive training center in the Southeastern United States (Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Mississippi) for robotic surgical systems. Since that time, Saint Joseph's has become the world-wide site for surgeons to train on robotics.