Experience Really Is Important When It Comes To Prostate Cancer Surgery

With most things in life it is fair to say that the more experienced and practiced you are the better your performance and this would certainly seem to be the case when it comes to prostate cancer surgery.

One of the biggest problems with cancer is that, in spite of the best efforts of your surgeon, it has a bad habit of recurring in a number of cases. when it comes to prostate cancer following the total removal of the prostate by radical prostatectomy recent studies show that, while the chances of a recurrence are about 18 percent when surgery is carried out by a relatively inexperienced surgeon, this figure falls to less than 11 percent in more experience hands. So just what do we mean when we talk about 'experienced hands'?

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

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

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

First it is very important that patients choose a surgeon who regularly performs this type of surgery. Indeed, it may well be advisable to choose a surgeon who specializes solely in prostate surgery, or whose work revolves largely around such surgery. In most general hospital settings surgeons will carry out such surgery infrequently, perhaps as rarely as just one or two times a year, and this is not sufficient to give them the expertise needed to provide you with the best possible change of a low recurrence rate.

Against this background therefore your first choice should without doubt be a specialist cancer treatment center and of a surgeon whose work involves exclusively, or very largely, prostate surgery.

The study also showed however that there is a marked improvement in recurrence rates not simply for specialist cancer centers, but also for teaching hospitals. This is because, within an academic environment, a good deal of emphasis is placed on supporting mechanisms to assess the outcome of procedures and to provide feedback in an effort to create an environment in which continuous improvement is seen. This is not always the case in non-academic environments. Also, academic centers tend to attract people who are particularly interested not just in the outcome of their work but in both correcting their errors and improving their surgical technique.

So, should you find yourself in the position of requiring prostate surgery then you would be well advised to choose to have surgery with an experienced and practiced surgeon who is employed in a specialist cancer center within a major teaching facility.

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