This story about a local surgical center’s new daVinci "robot" surgical device describes the patient being operated on in the opening anecdote as "unconscious." So was someone at the newspaper.
The story fails to:
The report is not very clear, coherent, informative or important. Its greatest virtue is that it is short.
How local newspapers deal with issues of medical technology assessment, of community ascertainment of need, of resource allocation. of costs, of evidence is vital to public understanding of why we spend more than any other country on health care without the outcomes to show for it. Stories can educate or they can advertise. This one falls in the latter category.
The story says the new daVinci machine costs $1.7 million. But it fails to say how much this affects the cost of surgery.
It also accepts without verification the sketchy assertion that the cost of the machine is offset by shorter hospital stays.
The report does not provide any data on the benefits of daVinci-assisted surgery.
The story does not cite any potential harms of the daVinci-assisted procedure.
The writer cites no evidence to show the device is safe or effective, or how its use improves outcomes compared to conventional "open" surgery. Indeed, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality states that "there isn’t enough research yet to tell us how well (this works) compared with other treatments." (It is easy for anyone to find it on the web.) That lack of evidence is a key issue that was completely ignored.
The story features at least three ineffectual attempts to generate false drama–the patient in the opening anecdote is "unconscious" (good thing!), his prostate is described as "cancer-ridden," and the machine is said to move into "tighter corners of the human body."
The story cites the fact that the surgery in question was stopped due to a fear of bleeding, despite its irrelevance to understanding the device itself.
The story also quotes a satisfied patient who said he chose the daVinci because he didn’t want to be "cut open like a watermelon"–the fate, presumably, of those who do not get robot-assisted surgery.
However, because the story really gives no background on prostate cancer, it is judged N/A on this criterion.
Only two sources are used:
The story would benefit from the perspective of an independent expert.
The story properly mentions that prostate cancer can also be treated wtih radiation and drugs. But it fails to mention watchful waiting, an important and often under-reported option people should know about.
The story indicates that the Oklahoma University Medical Center’s Center for Robotic Surgery has a new daVinci surgery device.
It doesn’t say whether other facilities in the area [or the country] use these machines. A reader would have no idea if the technology is in widespread use and where. They simply know one place to go for it – just like you’d get in an advertisement!
The story implies novelty, calling it the "lastest generation of high-tech machinery" used in surgery.
Yet the daVinci machine has been used for a decade, with about 1,000 units operating in the U.S. The new version of the machine cited is a minor upgrade over exisiting models.
We can’t be sure of the extent to which the story may have been influenced by a news release. We do know that all the cited info came from one doctor at one medical center. Pretty much what you get in a news release.
Systematic, Criteria-Driven
Come on, NY Times; you must do better than this. Important research doesn’t need hype and the “breaking news” BS doesn’t help readers or patients. https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2022/03/nyt-proclaims-breaking-news/
Our editorial team was blessed to have Sharon as a contributor during our best years. As this obit states, she was “kind, patient, wise, thoughtful and generous.” Thank you, Sharon; now rest in peace. https://journalism.wisc.edu/news/in-memoriam-sharon-dunwoody-1947-2022/
We’ve written about the hype of liquid biopsies for years (see link in comment below). And now this…. https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/12/medicare-shouldnt-cover-liquid-biopsies-early-cancer-detection/
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