The Lure of the Robot

Robotic surgery is the preferred choice of men today to pluck out there cancerous prostates.  But is it any better than traditional surgery?  Is the promise of fewer side effects living up to the hype?  Is there a financial incentive for physicians and providers to recommend the robot? 

From New York Times, March 11, 2011 ... "Hospitals With Robots Do More Prostate Cancer Surgery"

"Hospitals that buy surgical robots end up performing more prostate cancer operations, suggesting that technology has become a driving force behind decisions about men’s cancer care, new research shows..."

But is it better than any other treatment or doing nothing at all?  There's no evidence to say one way or the other....  

"But," the article continues, "that hasn’t stopped hospitals from conducting intense marketing campaigns that imply surgery using the high-tech robot gives prostate cancer patients a better result."

Ben Org, author of All About The Prostate, put a finer point on the issue and financial incentives in the general promotion of robotic surgery, when he wrote in the following email.... 

"Follow the money. From 2001-06, use of the da Vinci system — the only robot available for this operation — rose from one per cent to 40 per cent of all radical prostatectomies. During that time, the stock price of da Vinci’s maker, Sunnyvale, California-based Intuitive Surgical Inc., increased 11-fold.

A PROSTATE CANCER MONEY TREE

Reposted here from Wall Street Journal, December 2010.  It's worth a second look because the whole idea behind the story is so outrageous, i.e. financial gain is driving overtreatment (with new forms of radiation) of prostate cancer patients ... and it's so easy because Medicare is paying the tab.

A Device to Kill Cancer, Lift Revenue
By John Carreyrou and Maurice Tamman

"Roughly one in three Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with prostate cancer today gets a sophisticated form of radiation therapy called IMRT. Eight years ago, virtually no patients received the treatment.

"The story behind the sharp rise in the use of IMRT—which stands for intensity-modulated radiation therapy—is about more than just the rapid adoption of a new medical technology. It's also about financial incentives...."