Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog: Should you have your cancer surgery done by a robot?

Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog: Should you have your cancer surgery done by a robot?: "Herman Kattlove
I am a retired medical oncologist. For the last seven years I was a medical editor for the American Cancer Society where I helped develop much of the information about specific cancers that is posted on the website at www.cancer.org. I attended the University of Chicago as an undergraduate and also received my MD there. I trained in hematology and oncology at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in New York and then spent 5 years as an assistant professor at UCLA. Following that, I went into practice in Long Beach, California. In 1992 I received a masters degree in public health from UCLA and then worked in managing cancer care in HMOs for some time till joining the ACS. I retired from the ACS in November, 2006. "

Welcome to a new cancer blogger.

Robotic Surgery Blog: Robotic reliability

Robotic Surgery Blog: Robotic reliability: "This is a special thank you to Dr. Savatta . Last summer my in law was living in Greece and was informed that he had prostate cancer. He decided to come to the US and get other opinions , we saw a few doctors and they all recommended no surgery due to his age , however he wanted the cancer out of him . That's when i did a little research and we went to see Doctor Savatta . I must say we were very happy with the Doctor's knowledge and personality .
A good person that understands the patient's feelings and the families concerns .The Surgery was performed last july and today 7 months later no problems at all , all bloodwork comes back OK and most of all absolutely no leakage .
A special thanks to Doctor Savatta and and staff
Keep up the Good Work!!"

This was a comment left from the relative of a patient of mine on the Robotic Surgery Blog.

I remember the original consultation and went over the treatment options. Age alone should not be an exclusion for surgery. With robotic surgery, I have been able to operate for prostate cancer up to age 80 and for BPH up to age 88. I have not had a higher complication rate for these conditions in my older patients.

Usually the cure rate for surgery over radition is lessened or eliminated in older patients, but the quality of life from a urinary standpoint is often improved in the long run compared to radiation. It helps to have the prostate out from a BPH and bladder outlet standpoint.

There is difference in opinion in whether or not robotic surgery (or any surgery) should be offered in elderly patients, but I think it can be done safely and can be done if the patient chooses it after a proper counselling session and radiation oncology opinion.

I blogged on this awhile back on the robotic surgery blog and cited a study out of the Mayo clinic.

Travelling for robotic surgery

I found a neat thing online that I was hoping would come at some point.

I have had many patients travel to see me for robotic surgery and was looking for an easy way to show that.

I found a site, AardvarkMap.net, that allows custom maps.

I simply placed the location that my out of state patients have travelled. Due to HIPAA reasons, it is only accurate to a state or country, not a town.