Do high-volume hospitals and surgeons provide better care in urologic oncology?

Studies focusing primarily on hospital or surgical volume as a surrogate for surgical experience have found substantial variations in outcomes. Increasing surgical experience has been shown to improve outcomes after multiple procedures, including esophagectomy, pancreatectomy, and primary surgery for colon and breast cancer. More recently, evidence has been presented that surgical volume/experience affects quality of life and cancer control outcomes after urologic oncology procedures. Although most of these data pertain to radical prostatectomy, similar conclusions have been reached for radical cystectomy, retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, and management of renal cell carcinoma. This review highlights data indicating that high-volume surgeons and hospitals provide better care for radical prostatectomy. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Inc.