The Learning Curve for Surgical Margins After Open Radical Prostatectomy: Implications for Margin Status as an Oncological End Point

We noted a learning curve for surgical margins after open radical prostatectomy. The poor concordance between surgeon margin and recurrence rates suggests that while margins clearly matter and efforts should be made to decrease positive margin rates, surgical margin status is not a strong surrogate for cancer control. These results have implications for using the margin rate to evaluate changes in surgical technique and as surgeon feedback.