UPDATE - Issue 31 - Autumn 2007
The case for specialisation
Research in the US covering some 7,800 prostatectomy patients showed that with inexperienced surgeons 17.9% had a recurrence of cancer compared with 10.7% of patients whose surgeons had performed 250 or more.
The Department of Health here in the UK has taken this and related research on board. It clearly makes sense to have a limited number of specialised centres where such operations take place even if it means patients and their visiting relatives have to travel further.