Laura Samá: Learning curve in retroperitoneal sarcoma surgery

Laura Samá, General Surgeon at Humanitas Research Hospital (Milan), shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Is there a magic number to master retroperitoneal sarcoma surgery?

Find the answer in our latest paper.

Learning curve has 3 phases: initial improvement, plateau, and expertise achieved after 46 cases, where the surgeon handles more complex, multivisceral resections.

Surgical complexity increases with larger tumors (p = 0.003), more organs resected (p = 0.046), and longer operative times (p = 0.006), without compromising safety.

No rise in major complications, even in more complex cases (phase 1 vs phase 2 – 3 p = 0.747).

Attention: mentorship is key, and these findings reflect the expertise of a high-volume referral center.”