Feb 25 2011
According to a new study, it has been observed that robotic prostate cancer surgeries can be carried out by only those surgeons who have performed the procedure for more than 1,600 times.
Prasanna Sooriakumaran, Urologist at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, stated that studies suggest that surgeons at the community hospitals are not skilled enough to qualify for performing robotic operations using the da Vinci robot manufactured by Intuitive Surgical.
American Society of Clinical Oncology declared that more than 90,000 men in America are undergoing surgical operations annually to have their prostate gland removed. Researchers have closely watched the learning of the skill by three surgeons over the duration of 6 years. The three surgeons worked at high-volume centers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Weill Cornell in New York City, and Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
The results of the study will be presented at the Genitourinary Cancer Symposium in Orlando, Florida. The researchers are expanding their findings based on additional data collected from various other surgeons.
Source: http://www.med.cornell.edu/