Nerves taken

[Cyclingrealtor]

I need some understanding. A friend just shared that he had a G8 and a psa of 10.2. He had a RALP and the doc said the cancer was contained to the prostate. Then he said that the doc took both nerve bundles (R & L). How is the cancer contained but required both nerve bundles to be taken?

[Tall_Allen]

"Nerve sparing" is on a spectrum from 100% to 0%. The surgeon does not know before surgery how much, if any, he will be able to spare. Imaging is just a guess. Some surgeons claim they can see the cancer. Others rely on a pathologist standing by to look at frozen sections under a microscope.

Sometimes they say "I got it all" if there are no positive margins. Pathology will tell if the cancer has penetrated the capsule: Stage pT3.