MedPage Today reports: Among hospitals that marketed robotic gynecologic surgery on their websites, as many as 90% touted benefits that have minimal evidence-based support. Claims related to reduced pain, shorter recovery, and decreased blood loss were cited by 76% or more of hospitals that promoted robotic capabilities. Few hospital websites cited evidence-based data to back up the claims, and the limitations of robotic surgery rarely appeared,…
A journalist wrote me: “Ack! Another rah rah rah robotic surgery article, this time in the Times.” The blogging surgeon known as the Skeptical Scalpel tweeted: Skeptical Scalpel @Skepticscalpel ICYMI. Robotic surgery puff piece in the NY Times. http://is.gd/EjhZbe What draws their ire? A New York Times piece, “When Robotic Surgery Leaves Just a Scratch.” It discusses some new robotic surgery approaches, including …
…n to me about a news release they’ve received, one writing: “This one takes the prize for tasteless press release of the month.” It’s the latest in a long line of hospital news releases promoting their robotic surgery systems. The subject line of the email news release is: PIONEERING ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY GIVES A LOVING WIFE A SECOND CHANCE. Here’s the body of the news release: Venice hospital’s first da Vinci cardiac …
If my Google search can be trusted at this moment, very few mainstream news organizations have reported on new robotic prostate surgery data presented at a cancer meeting in Florida this week. MedPageToday had the best story I’ve seen, “Long Learning Curve for Robotic Prostate Removal.” Excerpts: “Three experienced surgeons needed more than 1,600 cases to achieve acceptable outcomes with robotic-assisted laparoscopic p…
An analysis, “Consumerism and its impact on robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy,” in the journal BJUI (formerly the British Journal of Urology) concluded that media coverage and marketing of robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy on the Internet is more widespread compared to laparoscopic and open radical methods of prostate removal. And that: “Disturbingly, the quality of websites using any technique for prostatectomy was …
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a statement on robotic surgery this week that concluded: Aggressive direct-to-consumer marketing of the latest medical technologies may mislead the public into believing that they are the best choice. Our patients deserve and need factual information about all of their treatment options, including costs, so that they can make truly informed health care decisions. Patients should be…
Lest anyone think that the recent studies showing how marketing is driving up the use of robotic prostatectomy (see yesterday’s post, “Ads & news (often resembling ads) fuel growing use of robotic prostatectomy“) is just academic hypothesis, let me roll out what promoters often do – an anecdote. After yesterday’s post, a physician (who wished to remain anonymous) wrote me: “Gary, I saw your post today a…
The surgeon who blogs and tweets as The Skeptical Scalpel (@Skepticscalpel) started my day with a Tweet that read: Houston Chronicle’s hard-hitting exposé on robotic surgery. http://is.gd/lT5ed4 You have to know his work and his style to know that he was being sarcastic about “hard hitting exposé.” The headline of the piece is: Advances in surgeries with robots reduce risks and trim recovery times The lead paragraph is: What if…
The Watchdog’s elves are everywhere this Christmas season, and one of them reports that a New Jersey medical center is promoting its robotic surgery system in a very upscale mall. This particular elf took a photo to send to Watchdog Santa. It turns out that a local news website added to the medical center’s free publicity. The story states that local doctors demonstrating the robotic system claimed: “robotics has really chang…
We’ve written before about some of the headlines praising robotic surgery: • Robot doctor – surgery of tomorrow • Da Vinci puts magical touch on the prostate • Cancer survivors meet lifesaving surgical robot • Robotic surgeon’s hands never tremble • Da Vinci is code for faster recovery • Surgical Maestro • DA VINCI ROBOT IS SURGERY WORK OF ART Now even the news that a company is testing a couple of robotic-surgery-training-…
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