Influence of surgeon and hospital volume on radical prostatectomy costs.

Purpose: While higher radical prostatectomy hospital and surgeon volume are associated with better outcomes, the effect of provider volume on health care costs remains unclear. We performed a population based study to characterize the effect of surgeon and hospital volume on radical prostatectomy costs.

Materials And Methods: We used SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results)-Medicare linked data to identify 11,048 men who underwent radical prostatectomy from 2003 to 2009.

The impact of prostate size, median lobe, and prior benign prostatic hyperplasia intervention on robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy: technique and outcomes.

Background: Large prostate size, median lobes, and prior benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) surgery may pose technical challenges during robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP).

Objective: To describe technical modifications to overcome BPH sequelae and associated outcomes.

Design, Settings, And Participants: A retrospective study of prospective data on 951 RALP procedures performed from September 2005 to November 2010 was conducted.

Athermal division and selective suture ligation of the dorsal vein complex during robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: description of technique and outcomes.

Background: Apical dissection and control of the dorsal vein complex (DVC) affects blood loss, apical positive margins, and urinary control during robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP).

Objective: To describe technique and outcomes for athermal DVC division followed by selective suture ligation (DVC-SSL) compared with DVC suture ligation followed by athermal division (SL-DVC).

Design, Settings, And Participants: Retrospective study of prospectively collected data from February 2008 to July 2010 for 303 SL-DVC and 240 DVC-SSL procedures.