looking for a Dr. in Albany, NY

wgregory
wgregory Member Posts: 3
edited March 2014 in Prostate Cancer #1
I have be diagnosed with prostate cancer. I am looking for information on Drs. at either Albany Med. or St. Peters. I have met with Dr. Ronald Kaufman with the group at Albany Med., does any one have personal experience with him or other Drs doing robotic prostatectomy?

Comments

  • fcatroneo
    fcatroneo Member Posts: 89
    #2
    Glad to have you on the network. I live in
    Atlanta and had surgery (not robotic) on 12/27/06 and I am doing great. No incontinence or ED. Life has been back to normal for months.
    I selected surgery cause the head Urologiest at Emory Univeristy in Atlanta (Dr. Fray Marshall) is one of the leading surgeons on Prostate Cancer. He worked along with Dr. Patrick Walsh and put together the Johns Hopkins Department (#1 for Prostate Cancer in the US).
    Even though Dr. Marshall is head of Urology at Emory, he specializes in Prostate surgery. He has done thousands of surgeries and still does 4 every week with a very high success rate. Again, I am feeling great and my first 3 month post operation PSA was less than .05. At this point I am "cancer free".
    Now back to your situation. Robotic's is a great choice and Dr. Ash Tewari is the best. He is at the Cornell Center in NY. He uses the Da Vinci system. Dr. Tewari has done thousands of procedures and continues to do procedures every week. You live so close, you need to go to him. Google him and you can read his bio.
    You will get some additional responses from out survivors shortly and I am sure they will agree with me.

    Take care and remember their is life after Prostate Cancer. You will be fine. Keep us posted on your progress.
  • Tasch
    Tasch Member Posts: 18
    #3
    wgregory,

    You need to locate the right DOCTOR first.Make sure he has done 100's if not 1000's of robotic procedures. Once you have done that, the hospital is secondary.
    I happen to agree with fcatroneo. Dr. Ash Tewari is one of the best.He operated on me 10/3/06 and I am feeling great with no major side effects to speak of.
    If you would like to speak in person about this, I'll be happy to reach out to you.
    Best of luck to you and keep us posted on your decisions.

    Tasch
  • wgregory
    wgregory Member Posts: 3
    #4
    The reason that I am looking for Drs. in the Albany area is solely because of my insurance. I have a HMO with MVP. They have participating Drs. that I am limited to select from. I want to have the robotic surgery so that limits me to St. Peters or Albany Med. Both hospital have had the Da Vinci for only about 2 years. The Drs. that are doing it robotically have only between 50-75 operations experience. Dr. Kaufman who I have seen at Albany Med. has done 1000 open proceedures. Because of the insurance I have limited choices. If there are Drs. in the HMO that do the robotic proceedure I can not travel out of the area for another Dr. It does not seem fair but that is the way it was explained to me.
  • Bamfam
    Bamfam Member Posts: 28
    #5
    Hi -- understand your problem with the HMO.

    This web site contains surgical volume information for surgeons in NYS:
    http://www.medicalconsumers.org/Performance_Reports_2002/NY/Radical_Prostatectomy2002_NY/page6.html

    Go there and see if Dr. Kaufman is listed. As a reference, one doc I saw at Sloan Kettering did 150 RPs a year; the doc I used does 65 or so - local urologist who did the biopsy did 6.

    I think the rule of thumb for a urologist who does the robotic procedure should be at least 100 procedures done.

    Hope this helps. Good luck

    Bob

    (1 month post-RP)
  • wgregory
    wgregory Member Posts: 3
    #6
    Bamfam said:

    Hi -- understand your problem with the HMO.

    This web site contains surgical volume information for surgeons in NYS:
    http://www.medicalconsumers.org/Performance_Reports_2002/NY/Radical_Prostatectomy2002_NY/page6.html

    Go there and see if Dr. Kaufman is listed. As a reference, one doc I saw at Sloan Kettering did 150 RPs a year; the doc I used does 65 or so - local urologist who did the biopsy did 6.

    I think the rule of thumb for a urologist who does the robotic procedure should be at least 100 procedures done.

    Hope this helps. Good luck

    Bob

    (1 month post-RP)

    Thank you, I did look at the link that you sent. Although I found Dr. Kaufman and the others Dr. in the area I'm not sure how currant that list is. The date on top of the report is 2002. Also I'm not sure are the statistics for open surgeries or robotic? I'm assuming they are for the robotic as the numbers are very low for all Drs. listed. Do you know if the report is for only the year 2002 or all surgeries? Thanks again I find that this forum very helpful.
  • Bamfam
    Bamfam Member Posts: 28
    #7
    wgregory said:

    Thank you, I did look at the link that you sent. Although I found Dr. Kaufman and the others Dr. in the area I'm not sure how currant that list is. The date on top of the report is 2002. Also I'm not sure are the statistics for open surgeries or robotic? I'm assuming they are for the robotic as the numbers are very low for all Drs. listed. Do you know if the report is for only the year 2002 or all surgeries? Thanks again I find that this forum very helpful.

    Thats for radical surgery - traditional method. Yes, its for 2002, and the docs current numbers may be different. The question to ask is this: how many procedures (either one) have you done overall?? The doc I used (radical) did 1500+; the doc at Sloan Kettering did 2500+ -- thats certainly on the high end. If Dr. Kaufman did 1000 radical procedures -- that seems like a decent number.

    Good luck -- keep asking questions until you are comfortable. Also -- does your HMO have out of network benefits?? Some do without terrible penalties - others dont and are unuseable overall.
  • lardog
    lardog Member Posts: 17
    #8
    Bamfam said:

    Thats for radical surgery - traditional method. Yes, its for 2002, and the docs current numbers may be different. The question to ask is this: how many procedures (either one) have you done overall?? The doc I used (radical) did 1500+; the doc at Sloan Kettering did 2500+ -- thats certainly on the high end. If Dr. Kaufman did 1000 radical procedures -- that seems like a decent number.

    Good luck -- keep asking questions until you are comfortable. Also -- does your HMO have out of network benefits?? Some do without terrible penalties - others dont and are unuseable overall.

    I also went to Dr Tewari July 2006. I have several older post regarding surgery on this site. Or you can email also. No problems Contient from the day the catheter was removed. 52 years old PSA 4.0
  • lion1
    lion1 Member Posts: 241
    #9
    Bamfam said:

    Thats for radical surgery - traditional method. Yes, its for 2002, and the docs current numbers may be different. The question to ask is this: how many procedures (either one) have you done overall?? The doc I used (radical) did 1500+; the doc at Sloan Kettering did 2500+ -- thats certainly on the high end. If Dr. Kaufman did 1000 radical procedures -- that seems like a decent number.

    Good luck -- keep asking questions until you are comfortable. Also -- does your HMO have out of network benefits?? Some do without terrible penalties - others dont and are unuseable overall.

    If I had to do it all over again, I would have reviewed a website like this one before having my LRP two years ago. My doctor was one of the best, however, I was left incontinent. Yes , he did nerve-sparing surgery and that part is going well with Cialis. But, as I read about the Robotic Surgery, done by Doctors like Tewari, I believe that maybe I would not be incontinent today. I did my research, by not enough concerning the incontinence factor. Yes, MY CANCER is gone and I am thankful. However, I feel I acted to quick and was not thorough. I was operated on two months after I found out I had cancer. But, I could have waited up to six months to take action. I am glad I see people seeking opinions and advice before making their decision. I wish I was more thorough. Of course, there are no guarantees, I would have remained continent. I'm deliberating with my doctor what to do next. I am too young for an Artificial Sphincter and I don't believe the advance Sling will work. Collagen injections are what I'm looking at now. I encourage everyone who reads this to advise their friends to explore websites like this one before making these lifelong decisions.

    Hope my advice helps someone out there. I don't want to see anyone deal with constant leaking.

    Lion1

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