Within the healthcare environment there are so many technologies emerging, it is often hard to tell which options are safe or effective. At Mediclinic Durbanville, the da Vinci robotic surgery is proving its worth in terms of improved patient outcomes. When talking to Dr Gawie Bruwer, a urologist at Mediclinic Durbanville who has been using the da Vinci since 2014, we can easily detect the excitement with which he speaks about the results being achieved. From the quicker recovery after the less invasive procedure to the more accurate diagnosis of the cancer progression, the patients being treated with this robot…

Treatment of prostate cancer continues to advance in leaps and bounds every year, however, according to Dr Anesh Naidoo, who practises at Netcare Blaauwberg Hospital in Cape Town, for those cases in which the cancer is still localised to the prostate itself, radical prostatectomy – in which the prostate is surgically removed – has the highest success rate of all the treatment options. “Studies have shown prostatectomy success rates of between 76% to 98% for low risk disease; 60% to 76% for moderate risk disease; and 30% to 76% for high risk disease,” Dr. Naidoo explains. There are various ways…

How did it start? How did I discover it? The question which menask me most frequently is “How did you notice it?” I don’t quite remember how it began; did I first notice the lump at the back of the right testicle, or the twinge in the right groin? The twinge was such a light pain that I didn’t bother to take a painkiller. It felt like the usual after-effects of a very light blow on the testicles. Men and boys will know what I mean… The first time that I consciously noticed the lump on the right testicle was…