If your urologist is not recommending the use of this technology for your Radical Prostatectomy procedure, you may not be receiving the best care available.
Patients and the ProPep Advantage Learn MoreLeading Edge Technology for Laparoscopic and Robotic Surgery
Christopher Dechet, MD, FACS
1950 Circle of Hope Dr.
N6405
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
Office: (801) 585-0250
ProPep is a valuable tool in identifying accessory pudendal nerves which may have a significant impact in post-prostatectomy incontinence. This is a valuable tool for teaching residents and fellows about the location, variability and importance of sparing these nerves. Most importantly, in cases where a wide excision or non-nerve sparing prostatectomy is performed, ProPep in invaluable in separating these nerves from the wider resection necessary to achieve negative margins.
Christopher Dechet, MD, FACS
Urologic Surgical Oncology
Anderson Family Endowed Chair in GU Oncology
Professor, Department of Surgery (Urology)
Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah
Christopher B Dechet, MD, FACS is an associate professor in the Division of Urology, Department of Surgery at the University of Utah. He is currently Co-director of the Urologic Oncology Multidisciplinary Group at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He is a board certified urologist whose practice at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital focuses on urologic oncology, specifically, the surgical management of prostate, kidney, bladder, adrenal and testicular cancers. He is skilled in open, laparoscopic and robotic procedures. He is currently the most experienced robotic surgeon in the Intermountain West, regularly performing robotic prostatectomy, robotic partial nephrectomy, robotic adrenalectomy, and robotic cystectomy.
Dr. Dechet received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He was the recipient of an American Heart Association research grant, which allowed him to pursue a year of basic science research at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He completed his general surgery and urologic training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. During this time, he received an achievement award from the Society for Laparoscopic Surgeons.
Dr. Dechet‘s special academic interest is the improvement of the quality of life in patients treated for urologic cancers. He has developed a comprehensive quality of life database for patients treated with prostate cancer. This has yielded multiple studies comparing robotic and open techniques. He has also established a Utah Prostate Cancer Consortium looking to improve prostatectomy outcomes in the state of Utah as well as comparing quality of life outcomes nationally. Dr. Dechet has also developed a robotic technique for treating locally advanced prostate cancer.
Dr. Dechet is a reviewer for multiple journals and a member of a large number of organizations including the Society of Urologic Oncology and the American College of Surgeons. He received the Teaching Award from the Division of Urology in 2012. Since 2005, Dr. Dechet has been the recipient of multiple other honors including the Patient Choice Award, Most Compassionate Doctor Award, Vitals Top 10 Doctor, Vitals Top Urologist and Top Specialist Award. Dr. Dechet is the past president of the Utah Urologic Society and the past president of an Austrian urologic meeting.
Dr. Dechet has lectured and operated throughout the world. He has been a visiting professor in Italy and Austria performing nerve sparing prostatectomy, partial nephrectomy and has performed one of the first robotic cystectomies ever done in Austria. In 2012 he accepted a 10 month sabbatical to help teach urologic oncology surgeries in Bolzano, Italy. Dr. Dechet has also helped establish a cystectomy program to treat invasive bladder cancer in Mongolia and taught laparoscopy in Thailand and Vietnam.