Anyone familiar with these doctors in chicago

Sorry, can't help you with either of those Doc's. Only one that I am familiar with in the Chicago area is the Doc who administered the Brachytherapy for me at the Chicago Prostate Cancer Center, Westmont, IL. His name is Dr. Brian Moran. Wish I could offer more help. Good Luck to you.

I’ve never heard of either doctor, and have previously searched the region for experienced, highly-regarded prostate specialists. While it is probably true with just about any serious medical treatment, it is especially true with prostate cancer treatment that the experience of the doctor you choose for treatment has a direct affect on your outcome .   You will see that repeated over-and-over as you develop yourself as an educated and empowered patient. I responded previously to your other post about the two National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Care (CCC) Centers located in Chicago: ·          University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center ·          Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University As was noted in that other thread, recent studies have examined the quality of cancer treatment at the major centers compared to local/community centers.   For run-of-the-mill cancer cases, the outcomes are about the same , but the major cancer centers have superior outcomes for the more challenging cases. Dr William Catalona is at Northwestern; he is known as “the father of PSA screening”; he performs “ open” surgery.   If you are interested, I could reply with names of doctors (in addition to Catalona, including surgeons performing the “minimally invasive” robotic surgery) at either of the Chicago CCCs who are considered highly experienced in treating prostate cancer.   By the way, the major cancer treatment centers take insurance…

I don’t recall reading your brother’s case characteristics, but I hope that he has already thoroughly educated himself on the various options that are available to most prostate cancer patients before arriving at the decision for surgery.   Close to 90% of all new diagnosis are “clinically localized” which means that there are multiple treatment options…if treatment is needed at all.   The American Urological Association (AUA) publishes a free online document titled " Guideline for the Management of Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer " ( LINK ).   This Guideline helps individuals examine four facts/dimensions about themselves in order to make the most personally appropriate treatment decision:  your cancer's characteristics , your overall health , your life expectancy , and your personality/values .   [By the way, after I examined these four dimensions for my own case, I chose robotic surgery for myself…but everyone should closely examine their own individual situations before making an informed treatment decision.]   I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and I had surgery at the University of Chicago by Dr Arieh Shalhav .   The U of C hospital is located in the Hyde Park neighborhood; it was about a 40 mile drive for me.   Dr Shalhav is Chief of the Urology Section, and the Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery.   He performed the first robotic surgery in Illinois at U of C in 2003, and U of C is among the top-10 in the robotic prostatectomy (RP) experience (number of procedures) in the world. Dr Greg Zagaja is Director of the Prostate Cancer Program at the University of Chicago and has also performed many hundreds of robotic RPs.   I have not seen him as a patient, but I’ve read and heard many good things about his experience, and he was recommended to me when I did my search.   Northwestern Memorial (University) Hospital (NMH) is located downtown, 1-block east of the Michigan Avenue Niketown & Apple stores.   A HealingWell participant named “wigged out” recently had robotic RP at NMH by Dr Robert Nadler , who is Co-Director of Minimally Invasive (robotic) Surgery in the NMH Department of Urology.   Perhaps “wigged out” might see this thread and add a comment.  The other Co-Director of the Minimally Invasive Surgery Program at NMH is Dr Kent Perry .

Just to add my thoughts on this:  I had surgery in Libertyville by a uro/surgeon from Gurnee.  My experience goes against the grain, I guess, here on the forum since my surgeon had "only" performed about 50 DaVinci procedures (though he's performed hundreds of open surgeries during his professional life).  Still, my results have been excellent and I'm very satisfied with him in every way. 

It's hard to argue with the oft-given advice to seek a respected physician who has done a boatload of these procedures, but I think my experience illustrates that there are very talented surgeons who do only one of these every week or so and who will never reach the huge numbers.  It was very comforting to have the surgery with a guy who knows me when I go in for follow-up visits, asks about my golf game, and who was able to treat me virtually in my own neighborhood, and who has a solid reputation as an excellent surgeon with the medical community here in Lake County.

So,  my advice is essentially the same as everyone else:  Find a surgeon who inspires confidence, whose bedside manner you like, and who has a strong reputation as an excellent surgeon.  The only part I leave out is the requirement for a thousand, or two thousand, or three thousand procedures. 

Part of my mind keeps telling me that if it takes an individual a thousand procedures to perfect this surgery, maybe he doesn't really have all that much aptitude for it in the first place, or perhaps it's so incredibly complex that the FDA should ban it. 

Ik,

I had my DaVinci surgery in Rockford, IL by Dr. Michael Fumo at Rockford Memorial Hospital. Excellent in addressing any questions I had and his nurse was especially helpful and energetic. I'm not sure what his statistics are but I was told that he was the best in the area. My GP doctor told me that he would recommend Dr. Fumo versus any Chicago area surgeons (not sure how much weight to place on that statement). All I can say is that I'm extremely satisfied with my choice and results. Good luck in your decision.

Apparently Confused has picked up on an old thread, one which originated last April.

His comments should probably be moved to a new thread?

Confused, I live in the far northern suburbs.  I could give you the name of my uro/surgeon, if you want it, but I think you're probably looking toward the Comprehensive Care Center docs, like those listed in Casey's posts.  Good luck.

 

Responding here on my Blackberry while taking my son back to college this week, so will be brief...but could answer more specifics later if needed. You've gotten good answers so far. At Univ of Chi, Shalhav and Zagaja have both done close to 2000 robotic RPs. I have a friend who sees Nadler at Northwestern. You won't go wrong with any of these choices...all are top RP surgeons in this region. Hope this helps...

confused20,

I'm back in my hotel room now, not reading (challenge!) your posting off of my Blackberry, and better able to read the entire thread again.

I would tell anyone who has chosen to have surgery to seek out a highly experienced surgeon for a prostatectomy, but you have some plumbing complications that make your case callenging...so I would say that in your instance it is particularily important that you get one of the top people in the region.  You are lucky to live in an area which has several choices, and you've already been given a list of excellent names. 

I had asked for an update from my email contact at U of C last spring about how many robotic prostatectomies  Drs Shalhav and Zagaja had performed...here's the reply I got (copied/pasted):

Dr. Shalhav has done approximately 1700 Robotic RPs to date.

Dr. Zagaja has done approximately 1800 Robotic RPs to date.

These two do the majority of the Robotic RP surgeries at our institution, Dr. Shalhav also does a great deal of Kidney surgery, which is why his number is slightly lower.

 

To schedule an appointment with each physician, you can call the numbers below.

Dr. Shalhav:    773.834.9889  773.834.9889

Dr. Zagaja :   773.834.4830  773.834.4830

 

Dr Shalav is a pioneer in robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RRP).  I said in an earlier post that he did the first robotic surgery in Illinois in 2003, but it was actually Dec 5, 2002...nearly 9-years ago.

I happen to have chosen Dr Shalhav (largely because I knew someone else who had gone with him, but could have easily gone with Zagaja or Nadler at NMH.  I didn't mention Dr Catalona at NMH because he only does open procedures.

Hope to hear back from you...

confused20,

Sorry, I think I misunderstood your earlier posting...I thought you were looking for a robotic surgeon. Regarding open RPs, I have heard very good things about Dr Flanigan at Loyola (he was also on my list, but ended up not contacting him when I narrowed my decision down to a robotic-assisted procedure), and of course Dr Catalona at Northwestern has a huge reputation. Both, I'm sure, will give you the best possible results.

best wishes...

Mike, a ton of us surgery guys have no "drips" and great sex lives. It's not a black and white picture.

davidg said...
Mike, a ton of us surgery guys have no "drips" and great sex lives. It's not a black and white picture.

That's true but isn't the risk of urinary/ED problems higher with surgery?

Yeah - agreed. Hard to compare really.