Trattamento del tumore della prostata con tecnologie avanzate: la salute percepita dai pazienti

Prostate pathologies due to the ageing population are becoming a considerable social problem in Italy: today prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men second leading cause of cancer death among males. We evaluate the influence on patients’ self-perceived health status of the robotic surgery versus traditional surgery for the treatment of early prostate cancer in Italy. Since this study is an observational study, we have no control over the treatment assignment. However, the treated (patient who undergo robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy, ralp) and control groups (patient who undergo open radical prostatectomy, orp) may differ significantly prior to treatment in ways that may affect the outcomes under study. In order to avoid erroneous conclusions we have dealt with the problem of significant group differences by using a propensity score matching procedure. This study shows that robotic system does not seem to present major efficacy with respect to open radical prostatectomy. In particular our findings do not support any significant differences in self perceived health of patients operated with robot-assisted surgery versus open retro pubic radical prostatectomy.