Calhoun Surgery Successful

STORRS, CONNECTICUT (February 6, 2003) -- University of Connecticut head basketball coach Jim Calhoun underwent successful surgery for the removal of his prostate on Thursday, Feb. 6. The surgery took place at the John Dempsey Hospital at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, Conn., by Dr. Peter Albertsen, a UConn Health Center urologist.

“The operation went as planned,” said Dr. Albertsen. “There were no problems that were encountered. Coach Calhoun’s cancer appears to be confined to the prostate. Coach Calhoun should be home this weekend and should expect a full recovery. I anticipate that he will be back to his full job-related activities within three-to-four weeks.”

Calhoun announced on Monday, Feb. 3 that he had been diagnosed with an early state of prostate cancer.

Dr. Peter Albertsen, UConn Health Center
Thursday, February 06, 2003

"Good afternoon, I don't have a prepared statement, but Jim Calhoun's surgery went according to routine this morning, it's a radical retro pubic prostatectomy, there's no evidence of the disease outside the prostate, no complications were encountered, it was a routine case as far as we were concerned."

Because it was confined to the prostate, what are the chances of it recurring? 

"There's always a chance of recurrence with any cancer, usually when prostate cancer is caught early, especially when Jim Calhoun's PSA (prostate-specific annogens) was only 4.1 going into this, the likelihood of this not recurring in the next 20 years is extremely high." 

Can you say 90-100 percent?

"Well over 90, probably in the area of 98 percent." 

Are there other ways to treat this, he (Calhoun) said he wanted it out, but were there other options?

"There are a number of ways to treat prostate cancer, surgery is one of them, external beam radiation is another, heat implantation is a third.  We discussed all those options on Monday morning, Jim wanted this out, generally that is an indication for younger men that they opt for surgery, but yes, there were other options, but when we reviewed them on Monday, Jim wanted the surgery so we put together a team that successfully performed the procedure today."

What are the side effects?

"Commonly there are side effects of any treatment, but over the last decade many of us in the field have really worked on our techniques for the likelihood that it's pretty low.  Impotence is always a potential problem, we did do a nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy, since this was very early in the disease, he had a small prostate, the tissue planes opened up very nicely, so I’m cautiously optimistic he can naturally function well, but that's one of the things we don't know until a few months down the road."

Any post-operative medication?

"In this hospital we use a epidural catheter, which we found very nice in terms of pain control, Jim has had no pain at all since the surgery, we will leave that in until Saturday morning, we usually take that out in post-op stage two, that's my normal routine and after that most men just need a little Tylenol and possibly a Percaset at bedtime when they go to sleep.  I hope to have him home hopefully Saturday evening or at the very latest Sunday morning."

When will he return to work?

"With every man it's different, they bounce back at a different rate, Jim's a pretty tough guy, I've had men return to work within two weeks, with Jim, we're hoping he'll be back on campus by the end of the month.  When he goes back full time, I'm suspect in early March, but hopefully we'll have him all set for the tournament.  Jim's going to bounce back quickly, the surgery went well, minimal blood loss, he did not get a transfusion, all those add to the fact that he will do well with recovery."

How long was the surgery?

"About two-and-a-half hours."