David B. Samadi

Dr. David B. Samadi, M.D.
Born Iran
Residence Old Westbury, New York
Nationality United States
Ethnicity Iranian Jewish
Education B.S. Stony Brook University
M.D. Montefiore Medical Center
Henri Mondor - Creteil, France
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Occupation Chairman of Urology Dept. at Lenox Hill Hospital
Chief of Robotic Surgery
Professor of Urology Hofstra North Shore LIJ School of Medicine
Program Director of Urology Residency
Fox News Contributor and member of Medical A Team
Chief Medical Correspondent AM 970 NYC
Known for Developer of the SMART surgical technique
Religion Judaism
Spouse(s) Sahar Danielpour

David B. Samadi is the Chairman of Urology, Chief of Robotic Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital. He is a board-certified urologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of urologic diseases, prostate cancer, kidney cancer and bladder cancer, and specializes in advanced minimally invasive treatments for prostate cancer, including laparoscopic radical prostatectomy and laparoscopic robotic radical prostatectomy. Samadi developed the Samadi Modified Advanced Robotic Technique (SMART) for the robotic removal of cancerous prostates.

Biography

Born and raised in the Persian Jewish community of Iran, at age 15 Samadi and his younger brother left in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution.[1] They continued their education in Belgium and London before coming to the United States where Samadi completed high school in Roslyn, New York. After high school, Samadi attended Stony Brook University and earned his degree in biochemistry on a full scholarship.

Career, education and training

Samadi completed his postgraduate training in urology at Montefiore Medical Center and in protoctology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center. He completed an oncology fellowship in protoctology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a robotic radical prostatectomy fellowship at Henri Mondor Hospital Creteil in France under the mentorship of Professor Claude Abbou. Along with Abbou, Samadi performed the first 11 da Vinci robotic prostate surgeries in the world. Samadi is fellowship trained in laparoscopy and robotic prostatectomy surgery and is an internationally recognized expert in both fields.

He is one of the very few urologic surgeons in the United States trained in oncology, open, laparoscopic, and robotic surgery. He is also the first surgeon in the United States to successfully perform a robotic surgery redo. To date, Samadi has performed over 6,000 successful da Vinci prostate surgeries. As a result of his surgical experience, Samadi is considered a leader and pioneer in robotic surgery performing 15 surgeries per week.

Having completed fellowship training in both urologic oncology and laparoscopy, Samadi's technique as described below builds on oncologic principles learned with open radical prostatectomy and transferred to a robotic approach.[2] In the technique he uses at Lenox Hill Hospital, he recreates the classic open anatomic technique as closely as possible on the robotic platform.

The benefits of Samadi's unique procedure are twofold. First, he does not suture the dorsal vein complex at the beginning of surgery, allowing him greater control over the length of the urethra at the completion of surgery. The longer the urethra, the less leaking and incontinence a man experiences after surgery. Samadi is able to achieve continence rates of 97% at one year.

Second, Samadi does not open the endopelvic fascia, thereby leaving this tissue intact and sparing the tiny nerve bundles that surround the prostate and control sexual function. As such, Samadi is able to achieve 87% sexual potency rates at 1 year.[3]

Samadi developed his unique SMART (Samadi Modified Advanced Robotic Technique) surgical procedure after years of perfecting his successful robotic surgery method, to improve sexual function and urinary control results. The SMART technique is the most advanced robotic technique for prostate cancer surgery. More and more surgeons are continuing to use his technique for prostate cancer surgery nationwide.

International outreach

Samadi has demonstrated his SMART surgery technique worldwide, educating international surgeons and sharing his robotic prostatectomy expertise. His surgical outreach has included Athens, Greece, Israel and other European countries. In December 2010, Samadi became the first surgeon to perform a live SMART surgery robotic prostatectomy at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, northern Israel, and Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel. In March 2011, Samadi spoke about robotic prostatectomy surgery at the Hospital Metropolitano de Santiago in the Dominican Republic. In October 2011 he was the first surgeon to perform the procedure in the Netherlands, doing so in collaboration with Jelle Barentsz, a specialist in MRI and Urogenital diseases at The Dutch Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center.

On February 25, 2014, Samadi performed the first robotic prostatectomy at the Hospital Metropolitano de Santiago (HOMS) in Santiago, Dominican Republic. This was the first robotic surgery ever performed in the Dominican Republic. The surgery was performed at the Samadi Robotic Institute at HOMS. The Dominican Republic is a poor country where few could afford the cost of robotic surgery and as such the HOMS caters for the medical tourism sector. [4][5]

Samadi also founded the Samadi Robotics Foundation dedicated to the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer, through funded research and increased public awareness of prostate cancer and robotic prostate surgery around the world.

About robotic prostatectomy

Robotic prostatectomy is a minimally invasive surgery in which a doctor operates robotic arms to operate and remove the prostate. The main benefits include a shorter hospital stay, keyhole incisions resulting in less blood loss, little pain, low risk of infection, quick healing and small scars. As is the case of open surgery performed in the hands of experienced surgeons, the risk of becoming impotent or incontinent is acceptably low.[6]

The surgery is performed entirely by the surgeon, who sits at a console in the operating room and views the surgery on an enhanced 3D High Definition monitor. The surgeon uses joysticks that track movements, which are then translated in real-time to the scaled movements of a robotic device that enables the operation to take place. The ends of the robotic arms are fitted with miniature surgical instruments that are capable of moving in any direction. The EndoWrist instruments can be directed with extreme accuracy and precision.

The da Vinci Surgical System allows surgeons to operate for longer periods of time with less fatigue and virtually no hand tremor. It provides delicate handling of the prostate tissue permitting extremely accurate cutting of nerve tissue. Five small quarter sized incisions are made into the patient's abdomen, three on one side of the navel and two on the other side. The fine robotic arms equipped with tiny surgical instruments enter through these ports and performs the surgery. There is no computer programming of surgical instructions.

During the procedure, this system completely removes any cancer cells that are at the surrounding edge of the prostate. The elimination of any malignant cells at the surgical margins is critical to patient recovery.[7] After the incision sites have healed, patients report a return of their sexual drive.[8]

Patients report minimal discomfort after robotic surgery as opposed to traditional open surgery which involves large traumatic incisions to the patient, requires a longer healing time with the possibility of infection at the surgical site and considerable scarring. With the da Vinci system, the small one-centimeter keyhole incisions allow for enhanced surgical maneuvers that would be impossible manually.

Professional activities, memberships and distinctions

Samadi has in the past presented his clinical research at medical conferences although not recently.[9] He has been a guest speaker in major academic lecture series'. Over the past decade, Samadi has been actively involved in training and proctoring urologists across the country and internationally.[10] In 2011, Samadi participated in the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine's inaugural year in New York, performing a live robotic prostatectomy procedure for exceptional high school students.

Samadi is a member of the American Urological Association and the American Medical Association. Samadi is included in Castle Connolly Medical's America's Top Doctors. New York Magazine named Samadi to their Best Doctors List in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Samadi is also a host of Sunday Housecall on Fox News Channel with Marc Siegel. The show covers topics including diabetes, cancer treatment and prevention, and heart health.

Samadi is also Chief Medical Correspondent for New York City's am970 and has his own radio show, World Health News, where he talks about global health news and issues, the business of medicine, medical technology and apps, politics, health tips for men and women, diet trends and nutrition. He also has featured guests such as top doctors, entrepreneurs, medical authorities and more.

Controversial comments on health insurance

On August 27, 2013, Samadi appeared as a guest on a segment of the Fox & Friends morning television show to discuss whether women should pay more than men for health insurance. At the time of the interview, the gender rating for insurance premiums[11] was common practice among health insurers, with estimates that women paid about $1 billion a year more than men on health insurance.[11][12] However, under the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2010 (″Obamacare″), the practice is scheduled to be banned effective January 1, 2014,[12] and this is considered to be one of the most uncontroversial provisions in the law.[11] Samadi argued that women pay more for health insurance, because they, for a number of reasons, tend to use the health care system more than men. He stated that women go through more preventive screening; they give birth; they have mammograms and PAP smears; men do not like to go to the doctor.[13] According to Samadi, men should make use of the system just as much as women and get preventive screenings done for cancer, especially prostate cancer. Prostate specific antigen levels (PSA) should be checked for men beginning at the age of 50, unless otherwise at a higher risk.

To fix this whole insurance companies and, like, health care system, you have to get the third payer party out of this. If you paid for it, that would be the way to go. We should all have some catastrophic insurance for hospitals, but when it comes to your CAT scans, X-rays, doctors, you have to come in with your credit card or cash and say, "I'd like to see the doctor." That would take care of all of this stuff.[11]

In support of this position, Samadi said,

I just think that the whole system is not working well. I mean this is one of the examples, where men and women are totally different, there is a sex difference when it comes to the health care use, but I really think that if you pay for it, you are going to negotiate, finding out where is the best doctor, where you're going to get a better deal on all these X-rays etc., that's how you're gonna save money.[11]

Samadi's comments have attracted widespread online criticism,[14] in various blogs, such as those in Slate,[11] Freak Out Nation,[15] Wonkette,[16] National Women's Law Center,[12] Daily Kos,[17] and Marie Claire.[18]

Personal life

Samadi is married to Sahar Danielpour also of Iranian Jewish descent.[19] He practices Judaism.[19] The couple lives in Old Westbury, New York.[20]

Publications

References

  1. ↑ Gupte, Pranay (January 17, 2006). "Doctor Discusses Plans To Perform Tele-Surgery". The New York Sun.
  2. ↑ Gainsburg, Daniel M.; Wax, David; Reich, David L.; Carlucci, John R.; Samadi, David B. (2010). "Intraoperative Management of Robotic-Assisted Versus Open Radical Prostatectomy". JSLS, Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons 14: 1–5. doi:10.4293/108680810X12674612014266.
  3. ↑ Samadi, David B.; Muntner, Paul; Nabizada-Pace, Fatima; Brajtbord, Jonathan S.; Carlucci, John; Lavery, Hugh J. (2010). "Improvements in robot-assisted prostatectomy: the effect of surgeon experience and technical changes on oncologic and functional outcomes". Journal of endourology 24 (7): 1105–10. doi:10.1089/end.2010.0136. PMID 20624081.
  4. ↑ http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/02/27/new-robotic-surgical-institute-opens-in-dominican-republic/
  5. ↑ http://www.medicaltourismmag.com/blog/2014/03/cancer-fighting-robot-awaits-medical-tourism-patients-caribbean/
  6. ↑ Lavery, HJ; Nabizada-Pace, F; Carlucci, JR; Brajtbord, JS; Samadi, DB (2010). "Nerve-sparing robotic prostatectomy in preoperatively high-risk patients is safe and efficacious". Urologic oncology 30: 26. doi:10.1016/j.urolonc.2009.11.023. PMID 20189844.
  7. ↑ Akhavan, Ardavan; Levinson, Adam W.; Muntner, Paul; Nabizada-Pace, Fatima; Samadi, David B. (2009). "Risk stratification and early oncologic outcomes following robotic prostatectomy". JSLS 13 (4): 515–21. doi:10.4293/108680809X12589998404164. PMC 3030785. PMID 20202392.
  8. ↑ "Is There Sex After Surgery? Yes - If You Choose the Right Procedure" (Press release). Intuitive Surgical. December 14, 2007.
  9. ↑ Hoznek, András; Samadi, David B.; Salomon, Laurent; Olsson, Leif E.; Saint, Fabien; Chopin, Dominique; Abbou, Clément-Claude (2002). "Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy". Current urology reports 3 (2): 141–7. doi:10.1007/s11934-002-0026-3. PMID 12084206.
  10. ↑ Hoznek, András; Samadi, David B.; Salomon, Laurent; de la Taille, Alexandre; Olsson, Leif E.; Abbou, Clément-Claude (2002). "Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: published series". Current urology reports 3 (2): 152–8. doi:10.1007/s11934-002-0028-1. PMID 12084208.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Marcotte, Amanda (August 27, 2013). "Fox News Worries That Women Are Taking Up Too Much Health Care". Slate. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Benyo, Anna (August 27, 2013). "Dear Fox News, Women Should NOT Pay More for Health Insurance". National Women's Law Center. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  13. ↑ Brian Kilmeade, Gretchen Carlson, David Samadi (August 27, 2013). Fox and Friends (TV). New York: Fox News. 23:30–27:15 minutes in. Archived from the original on August 27, 2013.
  14. ↑ Greenfield, Beth (August 28, 2013). "Fox News Contributor's 'Sexist' Comments on Women's Health Care Spark Outrage". Yahoo!. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Fox Hosts mansplain that women should pay more for insurance because of they have "uteri, ovaries and breasts"". Freak Out Nation. August 27, 2013. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  16. ↑ Schoenkopf, Rebecca (August 27, 2013). "Fox: Why Are Women So Greedy, With Their Breast And Ovarian Cancer Costing Men All This Money?". Wonkette. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  17. ↑ "Fox News doc says women should pay more for health insurance because they have breasts, ovaries". Daily Kos. August 27, 2013. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  18. ↑ "According to Fox Expert, Women Should Pay More for Health Insurance Because They Have Breasts, Ovaries & the Uterus". Marie Claire. August 28, 2013. Retrieved August 28, 2013.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Davidovit Cover Stories: "RoboDoc - Dr David B. Samadi" retrieved January 19, 2014
  20. ↑ 15 Minutes Magazine: "Joe Lieberman As Ambassador For Sanctity Of The Seventh Day by TIM BOXER retrieved January 19, 2014

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