Who knows. Depends on the doctor and how many open RP's that he's done,
I would guess. Is he a PCa specialist? Can you do more research on him
and his work? I know that the surgeon that did the RLRP on me had done
hundreds laparoscopically, and over 1000 open ones. (He also
trains/trained other surgeons at the different clinics on how to use it
as well). He operates exclusively on PCa patients, and does so several
times a week.

B.A.

It seems a little low, that's about 1 every 2 weeks.  Does he do open
surgeries or conventional laparoscopic surgeries in addition to these
50?  Will he let you talk to any of the previous 50 patients to see how
they're doing?  Every doctor has to start on someone so it's a tough
call.  I was my doctor's 126th laparoscopic patient, his first 40 were
with the robot and the next 86 were conventional lap surgeries since he
felt he could do better without the robot assist.  He had done hundreds
of regular open surgeries.  I'm still leaking three years out (1 to 2
pads/day) and he claims none of his other patients leak as much as I
do.  So, as I said earlier, it's a tough call.
Dave Perry

I read about a study recently that showed statistics like hospital
stay, blood loss and other factors dropped until the surgeon did
between 70 and 100 robotics. In other words, 70 to 100 to become good.
It went on to say probably 200 to 300 to become expert.

This was presented at the AUA meeting in May 2006.

I would not let one with less than 300 do mine. There are no "do overs"
in this game.

Hope this helps.

No. Find someone who has done hundreds and who does _at_least_ 50 per
year.