NEW YORK, May 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. David B. Samadi, Vice Chairman, Department of Urology, and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City appeared on Fox News to discuss a new study on prostate cancer treatment published by the New England Journal of Medicine. As a member of Fox News' Medical A-Team, Samadi was encouraged by the study results with regards to prostate cancer treatment. "The study shows a definite survival benefit to prostate gland removal, with a 38% lowered risk of dying from the subjects in the surgical group," said Samadi, a robotic prostatectomy and prostate cancer surgery expert.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110517/NY03891 )

The study followed 700 prostate cancer patients over 15 years, divided into "watchful waiting" and "prostate surgery" groups. The patients in the surgical group had a distinctly lower risk of dying, which was noted by Dr. Samadi, who's successfully performed over 3,300 robotic prostate surgeries in his practice. "Prostate cancer is known as the silent killer – it usually has no symptoms," said Samadi. "The advantage of surgery is that with removal of the prostate gland, you can know how much cancer there is, unlike with other prostate cancer treatment options."

Additionally, says Dr. Samadi, the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level after prostate surgery must be zero to undetectable, which will further prove that the prostate cancer has been removed. "Of course, in five to ten percent of patients, if the prostate cancer returns, they can then get radiation after surgery; however, it's much more difficult to do surgery after radiation because of scarring," said Samadi.

In addition to a cure, a patient's quality of life is most important to Dr. Samadi, which is why he created his SMART (Samadi Modified Advanced Robotic Technique) Surgery. With this technique, Samadi can provide a 97% cancer cure rate, 96% recovery of continence and 85% recovery of potency within 1 year. "Thanks to robotic technology, we surgeons have been able to improve prostate cancer patients' quality of life drastically," he said. "That's why I developed SMART Surgery because with prostate cancer, it's more sensible to be aggressive and get rid of it."

However, there are still men who delay seeking medical attention even if they begin to experience prostate cancer symptoms. "This is very evident among African American men who have a 3-to-1 ratio of being diagnosed with the disease, but yet are reluctant to look into it, and I can't emphasize enough the need to get tested," said Dr. Samadi.  

"The take-away message of this study is not that we have to operate on everyone, but that there is an art to medicine," said Dr. Samadi. "It must be individualized, which is the approach I take with my patients, using a variety of benchmarks to prescribe the ideal treatment. But in my opinion, prostate cancer should not be in the body so it's best to get it out – this way you know where you stand."

Dr. David B. Samadi
Ph: 1-855-DRSAMADI
1-212-241-8779

http://www.smart-surgery.com/

http://il.smart-surgery.com/

http://www.roboticoncology.com/

Prostate Cancer - The Survival Benefits of Robotic Surgery Over Watchful Waiting - Dr. Samadi

http://www.youtube.com/roboticoncology#p/a/u/0/9dC4T9JAJss

SOURCE www.smart-surgery.com

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