The Ministry of Health, through the Ordinance of the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Industrial Health Complex of Health (Sectics), incorporated within the Unified Health System (SUS) robot -assisted prostatectomy for the treatment of clinically advanced prostate cancer patients.
Radical prostatectomy is a surgery to remove the prostate and seminal vesicles, being a healing treatment for prostate cancer, especially in early stages. In this procedure, the prostate is completely removed, along with the tissues around it, such as seminal vesicles and, in some cases, pelvic lymph nodes, to eliminate tumor and reduce the risk of recurrence.
According to the ordinance, the technical areas will have a maximum period of 180 days to make the offer in SUS. The Recommendation Report of the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the Unified Health System (Conitec) on this technology should also be included.
Conitec approved, in the final opinion, the incorporation of robotic radical prostatectomy for patients with clinically localized or locally advanced prostate cancer.
“We recognize that there is an effort on the part of the technical team to promote equity in treatment and ensure that more patients can benefit from the best care available,” said the president of the Brazilian Society of Oncological Surgery (SBCO), Rodrigo Nascimento Pinheiro.
Pinheiro explained that “the next steps for robotic surgery to be widely available in SUS hospitals include the definition of protocols, reference centers and training of teams focusing on safety guarantee and quality of procedures.. According to him, the robotic technique has shown its effectiveness in the formation of new professionals, reducing the learning curve by allowing training in controlled and supervised environments.
