They identified a total of 33,375 cases performed. From 2008 to 2017, the percentage of all nephrectomies performed by the laparoscopic/robotic approach increased from 68.4% to 84.0%. Open nephrectomy trended towards older surgeons however only achieved statistical significance (p (p <0.05) in partial nephrectomy from 2014 to 2015.
In summary, these findings suggest that while there may seem to be an apparent difference in mean age in terms of approach for this type of surgery, future resident training and patient access to both techniques may not be negatively affected by the aging urologist workforce. However, future research is required to continue studying these important trends and how they relate to the developing shortage of urologists.
Presented by: Jason R. Lomboy, MD, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Stone Disease, Surgical Oncology, Urology Resident Physician at UNC Health Care, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Written by: Stephen B. Williams, MD., Associate Professor, Division of Urology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. and Ashish M. Kamat, MD. Professor, Department of Urology, Division of Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX at the 2018 American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress, October 21-25, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts