profwork
Total messages: 2
Registration date: 12/05/2006
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Created: 12/05/2006 16:40:57
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After I discovered that I had prostate cancer, Gleason score of 7, I began to research my options. Quite helpful was Dr. Scordino's book on prostate cancer. But I needed more focused and timely information.
I then consulted with colleagues and acquaintances who either knew of or had experienced prostate cancer. Especially helpful was a friend who taught at a medical school. The recommedation of this community: robotic laparoscopic surgery was the preferred remedy. Age and personal preferences must be considered and each case will be unique, of course.
Once the choice of surgery was determined, the rest proved surprisingly easy. The consensus of my research team led me quickly to New York Presbyterian Hospital. (I live in central New Jersey, so this fine facility was convenient--but don't be guided by this happy coincidence.)
The next step was even more obvious: Dr. David Samadi clearly stands out for his surgical background, his technical proficiency, his education, his experience with the Da Vinci method, but, just as important as all the above, his compassion and humanity. The standard questions revolve around experience and results, where Dr. Samadi clearly stands out. But I got lucky, again, in having available to me an expert who thoroughly knows the prostate cancer scene: His advice was Dr. Samadi, period, no reservations.
Thus, I "triangulated" among several ways of discovery, but these disparate paths led to the same destination. The results have been most gratifying.
The decision making is daunting and each must do his own. Use my experience. Others have since contacted me, and have made my choice their own, happily.
Wayne Hayes, Ph.D.
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Umpire20
Total messages: 1
Registration date: 12/26/2006
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Created: 12/26/2006 10:31:26
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As a result in a spike in PSA I underwent a biopsy and was diagnosed earlier this month with T1c prostate cancer. My Gleason Score was 3=4=7, PSA 4.2. Cancer (10%) was detected in 2 of 12 cores. I have read most of Dr. Patrick Walsh's book Surviving Prostate Cancer.
Before undertaking the Da Vinci Robotic Prostatectomy I thought it appropriate to get a confirmation of the biopsy and I am also interested in learning if you can independently determine year of DaVinci certification and how many surgical procedures a doctor has performed. I live in Tampa, Florida and am 59 years old.
Jim
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Dr Samadi
Editor
Total messages: 24
Registration date: 03/26/2006
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Created: 12/26/2006 20:25:27
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Jim
Thank you for your email. You certainly have a localized prostate cancer and your outcome is going to be excellent in the hands of experienced surgeon.
You certainly can get a lot of information from Dr. Walsh's book. The foundation of everything we do comes from his pioneer work without a doubt. Overtime this field has evovlved and for years open surgery was the best option for patients with localized prostate cancer. You have to look at each case individually, always keep that in mind. What is good for your neighbor may not be good for you or someone else.
Having said that, we have taken the experience of open surgery with our laparoscopic skills. From 1999 to 2003 there was a surge of minimal invasive surgery for prostate cancer and I personally was very interested in it and performed close to 200 of those cases.
Around 2002-3 robotic surgery became very popular. One of the main reasons for it was that it allowed open surgeons that are not trained in laparoscopic prostatectomy to be able to remove the prostate and do this type of surgery. There is no question that the learning curve for someone who is not trained in laparoscopy is at least 100-200 cases. I soon realized that if you are able to perform laparoscopic prostatectomy, the learning curve for robotic surgery was minimum. Now that we have performed over 700 robotic surgery, we can truly enjoy the ride. Surgery takes about 1.5hours, patients go home the next day, catheter is removed early and it has made it possible to be able to do 10 of these cases a week. It would have been very challenging to do that in open surgery.
I always tell my patients that in prostate surgery it is important what you remove but it is even more important what you leave behind. Saving the neurovascular bundles, long lenght of urethra etc.. are absolutely vital to patients like yourself.
As someone who has proctored over 40 urologists in robotic surgery and over 200 training cases, I can tell you that a lot of surgeons can complete this operation after 20 cases. Whether or not they would have the experience that you are looking for that is another question. The requirement to be listed on Davinciprostatectomy.com s only 20 cases. Of course some of the surgeons in that list are very skilled, but you need to ask individual surgeon about the path they took to get to that point. If you find someone who is a superb open surgeon who is doing a large volume of cases 5-7 cases a week compare to a robotic surgeon that performs 1-2 cases a week, go for the open surgeon.
However if you are comparing an experienced open surgeon with a robotic surgeon that has a devoted his or her practice to prostate cancer, then robotic surgery is preferred. The quality of life after robotic surgery is far superior than open surgery. Very few surgeons will debate the advantage of less blood loss, less pain and faster recocover with robotic prostatectomy.
The questions you should be asking are as follows:
How long have you been doing this for?
How many cases have you done in the past few years?
How did you learn robotic surgery?
Find out about the surgeons background, training and the number of years in training?
Talk to some of his patients that underwent the surgery?
Always get a second opinion on your pathology slides?
The future of robotic surgery is in the hands of young surgeons who are trained in open surgery, have laparoscopic training and use the technology of robotics to give their patients the best surgery possible.
Good luck to you and let me know if I could be any help to you.
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jack
Total messages: 1
Registration date: 09/25/2007
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Created: 09/25/2007 18:20:32
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Umpire20 wrote:
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What surgeon did you choose in the Tampa Bay area? I am currently looking for an experienced surgeon to perform the davinci procedure? Your feedback is appreciated.
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