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Practice can improve cancer surgical outcomes, a new study found. Researchers from Queens University in Canada set out to examine how higher volume hospitals and surgeons contribute to the outcomes of patients who had a radical cystectomy, which is for bladder cancer.

The team looked at the medical data on 2,802 patients taken from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). The patients had a radical cystectomy from 1994 to 2008. Overall, the researchers found that procedures done at a higher volume hospital and by these hospitals' surgeons had fewer post-operative complications and improved overall survival.

"We wondered if the processes and interactions that lead to better outcomes for patients treated by higher volume providers can be studied and identified, perhaps leading to improved outcomes for all if adopted by lower volume hospitals and surgeons," Rob Siemens, a professor from Queens University, said according to Medical Xpress.

He added, "This research has only been able to illuminate a small fraction of the factors that explain the improved outcomes of higher volume providers. Some would interpret this as a call to more aggressively support a policy of centralizing care at higher volume hospitals for complex medical/surgical diseases."

The study was published in Urology.