BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - Using self-reported case log data obtained by the American Board of Urology during the urologic certification (and re-certification) process, we estimated contemporary practice patterns of robotic and open radical prostatectomy within the United States.
Four main findings resulted from our study. First, we found that in 2009 67% of radical prostatectomies were performed through a minimally-invasive approach, meaning that still a substantial proportion of these procedures were performed through an open approach. Secondly, based on these data, we found there was a considerable increase in the total number of radical prostatectomies performed in the United States from 2003 through 2009 and hypothesize this increase in surgical volume was partly driven by the enthusiasm surrounding the uptake of robotic surgical technology. Our third main finding, not surprisingly, was that urologists performing robotic radical prostatectomy had substantially higher surgical volumes than those performing solely open radical prostatectomy (annual median volume of 26 cases versus 8 cases, respectively). Considering the well-documented positive correlation between radical prostatectomy volume and outcomes, the shift of these cases to higher volume surgeons may bode well for surgically treated prostate cancer patients. Lastly, we found that age impacted whether or not re-certifying urologists performed robotic radical prostatectomy; the older the urologist, the less likely he or she was to utilize robotic technology.
Our work certainly has limitations (as documented in the manuscript), but nonetheless it utilizes a unique data source from the American Board of Urology that gives a snapshot of contemporary radical prostatectomy practice patterns. These data are informative as we further study the dispersal and impact of new medical and surgical technology on the treatment of prostate cancer.
Written by:
Will Lowrance, MD, MPH* as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com. This initiative offers a method of publishing for the professional urology community. Authors are given an opportunity to expand on the circumstances, limitations etc... of their research by referencing the published abstract.
*Assistant Professor
Urologic Oncology
Huntsman Cancer Institute
University of Utah
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