Only a few years ago the closest wannabe surgeons got to practising their scalpel skills outside of theatre was the boardgame Operation. That was before the Nintendo Wii. 

Success rates for prostrate cancer improve dramatically following a surgeons first 250 operations, according to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Patients treated by inexperienced surgeons (those with only 10 prior operations) were nearly 70% more likely to have evidence of recurrence of their prostate cancer within five years than those whose surgeons who had performed 250 operations. Increasing experience after 250 procedures had little further influence on cancer recurrence.

Patients in remission from colon cancer who ate a diet high in meat, refined grains, fat and desserts had an increased risk of cancer recurrence and death compared with patients who had a diet high in fruits and vegetables, poultry and fish, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study looked at the influence of two distinct dietary patterns on cancer recurrence and survival in a group of 1,009 stage III colon cancer patients. The fifth of patients in the lowest Western dietary pattern experienced a 3.3 times lower risk for cancer recurrence or death than those in the top fifth.

LONDON
The Royal College of Surgeons has announced its withdrawal from the Review Group on MTAS.