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How many saw Urologist for prostatectomy vs Genito-Urinary Oncologist?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Sep 3, 2025 | Replies (13)Comment receiving replies
I am an MD in another field so other than my background which is cardiology I am in the same boat as the non-MDs in this blog. To the best of my knowledge (I graduated medical school many years ago) a urologist is a surgically trained MD and an oncologist is a medically trained MD. The latter is not a surgeon. Medically trained MDs can do procedures. I do heart caths and stents for example. It would be impossible for me to do open heart surgery. Likewise, if I understand your abbreviation RP as meaning radical prostatectomy, this seems to me to be out of the scope of practice of an oncologist who is basically trained in the medical side of things.
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Yes, RP stands here for radical prostatectomy.
Regarding urologists that are also surgeons, I am not sure that all are trained in every surgical technique and condition in urology field. Definitely not all know how to perform RARP and even lesser number specialize in PC surgery. There are urology surgeons that perform RP surgeries almost exclusively and those are really masters of their domain ; ). Their eyes are so well trained to recognize any minuscule aberration in tissue appearance and can adjust and change surgery plan on the spot. In our recent pre-op consultation surgeon went over his plan but also mentioned possible extra steps that would be performed depending of the actual scenario that he sees during surgery. Those things come only with experience and out of love for the job one is doing.
PS: Thanks for explaining cardiology field - I thought that cardiologists who place stents also do heart surgeries.