SURGERY: Use of surgical robots has changed the way radical prostatectomy procedures are done in the U.S.

The volume of radical prostatectomy procedures decreased 7 percent from 1425 procedures per million men over age 45 in the late ’90s to 1330 per million in 2010-2011.  There was a big change, however, in the way that the surgery was performed as surgical robots came to the fore in urological surgery.  This study of national data shows that open radical prostatectomy procedures dropped from 1424 per million older men to 435 per million during the 14-year time period.  Much of that procedure volume was moved over to robotic surgery.

This study also analyzes hospital procedure volume – finding that 18 percent of hospitals stopped providing open radical prostatectomy since 2006.  The number of hospitals providing the minimally invasive version of the procedure increased by 191 percent during the same period.  The percentage of hospitals with a low-volume (fewer than 50 procedures) program of minimally invasive radical prostatectomy doubled – to 26 percent – by the end of the study period.

Source: Tyson, M.D., and others. (2016, Jan.). Radical prostatectomy trends in the United States: 1998 to 2011. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 91(1), 10-16.  Click here for full text: http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196%2815%2900771-5/pdf  Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org