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Locating RARP Surgeons By Ranking
In cleaning up my prostate cancer tab (200 tabs open in that group 😳), I forgot about this one. This is from the people who make the robot used in the surgery and it shows how many surgeries any given surgeon has under his belt. I found this useful because when I looked up mine he was in the top 5 in the country:
https://www.intuitive.com/en-us/provider-locator
To go with that, I used this to see how my doctor ranked overall in success of RARP (again, mine was way above average):
https://health.usnews.com/doctors/urologists
I saw three urologists, the other two weren't even close to the one I went with (who coincidentally used the same robot for my kidney cancer 10 years ago). I'm glad I was able to find these tools because you just can't get a good feel for if a doctor is qualified or not by simply talking to them.
I also only talked to doctors at Cancer Centers of Excellence, which is also very important.
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It looks like the most experienced one in my area has done between 2-3k, but there's another surgeon about three hours away who has performed 8-9k.
I couldn't find my Mayo Surgeon on the list. To make it worse this evening a different Mayo Doctor called to tell me I needed to get a PSMA Pet Scan. I asked how to get one a week before surgery. He said he would try to get me scheduled for one. Then he messaged me that they are booked 2 weeks out, but he talked to my Surgeon and said it probably wouldn't matter anyway and I could go ahead with the Surgery. They had over 2 months to tell me to get this done after they did the Biopsies. Another stressor for an out of town patient!
2-3K is pretty good overall. Also know that those number, if I remember correctly, represent Medicare reports and may not show the non Medicare procedures. But since the vast majority of men who get this are over 65 and likely to be using Medicare then the numbers are still probably a decent indicator.
How does one find out what are Cancer Centers of Excellence?
@deborah1031
Just Google that exact wording and the state you are located in and you will get full list of hospitals that are designated as CCE.
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NCI-Designated Cancer Centers deliver cutting-edge cancer treatments to patients in communities across the United States. Find a center near you and learn about its specific research capabilities, programs, and initiatives using this list:
- NCI-Designated Cancer Centers Find a Cancer Center https://www.cancer.gov/research/infrastructure/cancer-centers/find
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I plugged-in the zip for Mayo (Rochester), selected "Prostate surgery", and used a search radius of 50 miles. I got one hit for a surgeon 70 miles away (no Mayo surgeons listed).
@hopingtolearn ummm. That seems like the database or search inputs weren't working.
Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center with three locations in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota. You can read more about Prostate Cancer care at Mayo Clinic here:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/prostate-cancer/care-at-mayo-clinic/mac-20353097
I agonized over choosing a surgeon. In the end I chose one in my local city who does approximately 50 per year and around 300 total at the time. I couldn't find anything negative on him, and the surgery went well with no complications. My PSA is undetectable, I'm continent, and erections and orgasms are back.
My thought is that all surgeons have to start their careers somewhere and a very talented surgeon may have only 300 operations under his or her belt yet may get better results than a more experienced surgeon at a center of excellence. Just a thought.
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