Editor’s note:
The Lancet recently published an important Australian randomised controlled trial of robotic and open prostatectomy. We publish the following non-commissioned correspondence by Hutchison and colleagues together with an invited response from the corresponding author of the trial, Robert Gardiner, because of the relevance of the debate to Australian health care.
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- 1. Basto M, Sathianathen N, Te Marvelde L, et al. Patterns-of-care and health economic analysis of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy in the Australian public health system. BJU Int 2016; 117: 930-939.
- 2. Yaxley JW, Coughlin GD, Chambers SK, et al. Robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy versus open radical retropubic prostatectomy: early outcomes from a randomised controlled phase 3 study. Lancet 2016; 388: 1057-1066.
- 3. Cook JA, McCulloch P, Blazeby JM, et al. IDEAL framework for surgical innovation 3: randomised controlled trials in the assessment stage and evaluations in the long term study stage. BMJ 2013; 346: f2820.
- 4. Sampurno F, Earnest A, Kumari PB, et al. Quality of care achievements of the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry — Victoria. Med J Aust 2016; 204: 319. <MJA full text>
- 5. Frydenberg M, Murphy DG, Moon DA, Lawrentschuk N. Robotic assisted radical prostatectomy versus open retropubic radical prostatectomy: where do we stand in 2015? Cancer Forum 2015; 39: 173-177.
- 6. Hall L. Jones has cancer operation. Sydney Morning Herald 2008; 20 July. http://www.smh.com.au/national/jones-has-cancer-operation-20080720-3i2e.html (accessed July 2016).
- 7. Hutchison K, Johnson J, Carter D. Justice and surgical innovation: the case of robotic prostatectomy. Bioethics 2016; 30: 536-546.
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Jane Johnson was one of the chief investigators on a linkage grant from the Australian Research Council (LP110200217), with linkage partner organisations Bellberry Ltd, Western Sydney Local Health District, Houston-Thomson, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the University of Otago. Katrina Hutchison was a post-doctoral researcher on the grant-funded project, but was not one of the grant recipients.