According to a study presented at the American Urological Association meeting there is an increase in the number of men choosing robotic prostatectomy as the primary treatment for prostate cancer.
Dr. David Samadi
This study was co-authored by Dr. Davis Samadi, who is the Vice Chairman of the Department ofUrology and also the Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at The Mount Sinai medical Center in New York. The data revealed that the number of patients opting for robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) in the U.S increased by 50% from the year 2005 to 2008. RALP surgeries were only 15% of the total prostatectomies in the year 2004 and the number increased to almost 80% in 2008.
Research from other institutions on prostate cancer surgery is on similar lines as that of the study by Dr. Samadi. He stated that while more patients are adopting RALP, some others feel that this would cause an increase in the surgical volume and it might not be possible to offset the cost of surgery. He reiterated on the advantages that RALP offers, such as minimum blood loss, improved urinary function and reduction in hospital stay. He added that the reduction in the cost of any new technology would happen over a period of time and the cost of RALP would also follow suite.
Dr. Samadi commands a lot of respect among robotic surgeons and works towards making sure that each of his patients receives special care. He maintained that prostate cancer was a killing disease, which would affect the patient and his family members. He recommends patients suffering from cancer to get rid of it completely and start life afresh.