Cancer Answers 123

"Anyone who thinks that then final diagnosis is finally defined by a thin slice of tissue between two pieces of glass is only slightly less foolish than any pathologist who believes the same."

As Joe Lessman readied his accounting business for the start of tax season last year, he agonized over his doctor's recommendation that he have open surgery to remove a cancerous prostate. Lessman is one of hundreds of thousands of patients across the country to undergo robotic surgery in recent years. Since the first device was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1999, robotic surgery has grown rapidly and is now used in dozens of procedures. Among the most common are removal of the gall bladder, uterus, prostate, kidney, and uterine fibroids, as well as gastric bypass and mitral-valve repair.