In every field, there are pioneers whose creative insights drive breakthroughs. Today’s specialist physicians need to be more than just knowledgeable in a discrete area of medicine; they need to be pioneers in their fields, with their skills honed at top-notch institutions.
Experience counts. For example, patients with prostate cancer have a three-fold lower rate of recurrence after prostatectomy when treated by a surgeon who has performed at least 250 operations.1 Cataract surgery patients experience significantly lower complication rates when treated by a surgeon who performs more than 400 operations per year.2
The resources provided by an exemplary institution affect outcomes as well. Better survival rates following surgery have been documented in high-volume hospitals for nearly 40 different procedures, up to several times better when compared with results from low-volume hospitals.3 For example, Shouldice Hospital in Toronto has long been recognized as the "gold standard" in hernia repair. Their trained team of surgeons has repaired more than 300,000 hernias with a greater than 99 percent success rate, rather than the average of 90 percent.4
Our physician-researchers constantly monitor the medical literature to identify the most innovative experts working at the leading edge in biomedical research, as well as physicians and treatment centers that have an ongoing commitment to excellence and expert care.
1. Vickers AJ, Bianco FJ, Serio AM, et al. The surgical learning curve for prostate cancer control after radical prostatectomy. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007;99:1171-1177.
2. Habib M, Mandal K, Bunce CV, Fraser SG. The relation of volume with outcome in phacoemulsification surgery. Br J Ophthalmol. 2004;88:643-646.
3. Dudley RA, Johansen KL, Brand R, Rennie DJ, Milstein A. Selective referral to high-volume hospitals: estimating potentially avoidable deaths. JAMA. 2000;283:1159-1166.
4. Gawande A. Complications: A Young Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2002.