Experience Is Certainly Important When Contemplating Prostate Cancer Surgery

By Author: Donald Saunders
Total Articles: 84
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With most things in life it is fair to say that the more practiced and experienced you are the better your performance and this would certainly seem to be the case with prostate cancer surgery.

A significant problem with cancer is that, despite the best efforts of your surgeon, it has a nasty habit of returning in a number of cases. In the case of prostate cancer following the removal of the prostate through radical prostatectomy recent studies have revealed that, while the likelihood of a recurrence are around 18 percent where surgery is performed by a fairly inexperienced surgeon, this figure falls to less than 11 percent in more experience hands. So exactly what do we mean by 'experienced hands'?

A recent study examined nearly 8,000 prostate cancer patients who underwent radical prostatectomy surgery in the United States between 1987 and 2003 involving a total of 72 surgeons from 4 major academic cancer centers around the country.

Interestingly enough the study showed that there is an extremely steep learning curve when it comes to performing prostate surgery and that it takes a significant amount of ...
... practice to master this particular surgical technique. Indeed, the study showed that it was not until surgeons had performed a minimum of 250 operations that a marked improvement in recurrence rates was witnessed.

So exactly what can we learn from this study if we are facing the prospect of having to undergo prostate surgery?

First it is extremely important that patients choose a surgeon who frequently carries out this type of surgery. Indeed, it could well be advisable to choose a surgeon who specializes solely in prostate surgery, or whose work involves a significant proportion of such surgery. In the majority of general hospital settings surgeons will carry out such surgery infrequently, perhaps as rarely as just one or twice a year, and this is not enough to give them the expertise necessary to provide you with the best possible change of a low recurrence rate.

Against this background therefore your first choice should undoubtedly be that of a specialist cancer treatment center and of a surgeon whose work involves exclusively, or at least very largely, prostate surgery.

The study also showed however that there is a significant improvement in recurrence rates not merely for specialist cancer centers, but also for teaching establishments. This is because, within the academic environment, a great deal of emphasis is placed on supporting mechanisms designed to assess the outcome of procedures as well as to provide feedback in an effort to create an environment of continuous improvement. This tends not always to be the case in non-academic environments. Additionally, academic centers tend to attract people who are particularly interested not only in the outcome of their work but in correcting their errors and improving their technique.

So, if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of needing prostate surgery then you would be well advised to choose to undergo surgery with an experienced surgeon who is employed in a specialist cancer center housed within a major teaching facility.