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Prostate Cancer
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Posted 4/23/2007 11:28 PM (GMT 0)
I was amazed today when I read in the local paper that the major hospital in my town now has a Da Vinci robotic system and a local urologist is performing robotic surgery.  This is a town of 55,000 that is located in North Alabama and is 30 minutes from the third largest town in Alabama that does not have a Da Vinci.  I believe that this is just another indication that the robotic procedure is rapidly replacing the open one as the gold standard for prostate cancer surgery.  The half page ad taken out by the local hospital specifically focused upon the decision to buy the Da Vinci to treat prostate cancer.

Tamu

Posted 4/23/2007 11:36 PM (GMT 0)
Tamu, That is happening here in OKC too. When ChiOkc told the local doc that he was going to Austin for surgery he said "He had only done 34 at one time too". and Chi said "yeah, but I would rather be his 801, than your 35th". I hope the local docs here keep getting better, but as Chi said, let them practice on someone else. I agree with him. Let them practice on someone who may allready have incontinence issues and where sexual function is not a constant on thier mind. Don't get me wrong, I work with the elderly all day long, and could find a long list of willing people to help them tune their trade while giving the patient longer life. Courtney
Posted 4/24/2007 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
A hospital's decision to buy a DaVinci is generally based upon financial reasons. Can the facility utilize the equipment and charge enough fees to generate a profit? That's why hospitals like the one in Alabama resort to marketing (the ad to which Tamu referred) to promote its latest technology. I'm sure the ad did not indicate how many procedures the surgeons on staff had performed or where they trained. That's not important to a hospital that just bought a DaVinci, but it sure would be important to me if I was considering surgery at the facility.

Excellent results can be had with both the open and the Davinci; however, like Courtney alluded to above, the procedure is generally only as good as the presiding surgeon. That's why in my opinion the #1 criteria is selecting the finest surgeon out there as opposed to selecting the open or DaVinci procedure.

Post Edited (SJC) : 4/24/2007 5:01:38 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/25/2007 11:39 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Tamu old buddy,
Sort of a funny (coincidental) story. Last Christmas holiday, we were flying to South Florida to visit the in-laws over the school break. Had to change planes in Tampa. We were standing in line ready to board, when I heard these two "suits" standing behind me talking, saying something like "yeah they just put in a robot up in so-and-so hospital, and they are doing a lot of gynecology work with it, too..." So, I turned around and asked, "Excuse me, do you guys represent Intuitive Surgical?" They looked at me like I was a fortune teller, and said yes. One was the national rep and the other was the southern Atlantic rep. I said, well, I just want to thank you as a satisfied customer (I was 4 months post-op then). They were off to close a deal on a robot for some hospital in Boca Raton. We were talking and they were talking about robotic surgery becoming the state-of-the-art in prostatectomy, and perhaps soon in hysterectomy, and cardiothoracic surgery. Of course, what are they going to say? But, they told me that business was good.
dj
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