prostate-report.org

Surgeon skills more important than type of surgery

A recent analysis of the outcomes of different types of radical prostatectomy appears to reveal no difference between the patients’ clinical outcomes following laparoscopic (including non-robot-assisted and robot-assisted) categories of surgery (LRP/RALP) and traditional “open” radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) when used to treat Medicare patients of 66 years or older.

The report suggests that it is not the type of surgery that is most important, it is the skill and experience of the individual surgeon that is most likely to determine the quality of outcome for the individual patient — whether the surgeon uses a robot, a laparoscope, or  just his hands and eyes.

The full article is scheduled for publication in the April issue of the Journal of Urology.