rick29, which Mayo campus are you considering? If it's Rochester, I can say that Dr. Tollefson performed my RARP and he and his staff were excellent. For me, it was about choosing someone who has performed a good number of procedures as well as someone who took the time to understand what was most important to me regarding outcomes of the surgery. I'd suggest getting a few recommendations and then setting up consults for several potential surgeons to see who the best fit for you might be. Dr. Walsh's book on prostate cancer has a good section on questions to ask potential surgeons and is a good place to start.

Good luck!

Rick29 - During my initial phone calls with Mayo staff, I received the same answer - All of our doctors are top notch. After that initial conversation, I learned that I had to ask specific questions - Such as who has the most experience performing the robotic assisted radical prostatectomy, what areas of focus does each doctor cover (I wanted someone focused on the prostate, not a "jack of all trades"), is the doctor academic focused, head of department (administrative focused), etc... I was also fortunate to have two extended family members that worked at Mayo-Rochester who I could reference for contacts in getting more detail.

I ended up going with Dr. Igor Frank at Mayo-Rochester. He was the first to perform the robotic assisted radical prostatectomy at Mayo and the second in the US. Dr. Frank also has a narrow area of focus, which was important to me. Bedside manner was not important to me, but Dr. Frank is awesome here as well. He will spend as much time as you want talking and making sure all your questions are answered. I have referred Dr. Frank to several other men and they have all been quite impressed. For myself, outcome has been phenomenal relative to removal of the prostate/seminal vesicles/lymph nodes and surgical side effects.

Take care and good luck on your journey. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Jim