Originally posted September 17, 2015

Today we received at Clinica CEMTRO the visit of a live transmission team from Spanish National TV. They connected us to the program "La Mañana de la Uno" to present the Da Vinci Robotic System and comment on its usefulness to treat urologic conditions and specifically, in the surgical treatment of prostate cancer.

Originally posted September 16, 2015

This morning I woke up early to travel to Bilbao and to spend the day at the ERUS 2015 congress on Robotic surgery in Urology. It was very well organized and it was extremely interesting to watch many surgeons performing live surgical retransmissions to the auditorium of the Euskalduna palace auditorium.

A congress with participation of urologists from ICUA, Dr. Estefanía Romero assisted Dr. Richard Gaston in a live surgery transmission.

Unfortunately I could not stay for the second day of the congress as we had been invited to participate in a live presentation in National TV of the Da Vinci surgical system and I had to return to Madrid.

Originally posted September 12, 2015

After the course on robotic surgery I flew to Barcelona to help Dr. Enrique Rijo, from the urology team at Clínica Quirón in Barcelona with his first steps with GreenLEP.

I love to work with colleagues who share the passion for what we do. Dr. Rijo is an enthusiast and is keen to learn.

As in every training session, we discussed all the details of the necessary instruments and morcellator.

Dr. Rijo had studied my videos and had visited me many times to see GreenLEP procedures, and he did a great job!

GreenLEP is an advanced technique, not easy, but perfectly teachable to a urologist with experience in vaporization and with desire to learn. I then returned to Madrid to rest a while. Dr. Rijo called later to tell me patients did very well afterwards.

Originally posted September 11, 2015

Again I went to ORSI-OLV in Belgium to complete another three days of advanced course of Robotic Surgery with the Da Vinci system.

There we had intensive work covering theoretical basis, surgery in cadavers and training models and attendance to the operating room at the OLV Hospital in Aalst.

It is really incredible to witness the amazing development that robotic surgery has experienced in the last years. Today it is possible to operate almost everything with robotic surgery!

I returned very happy, having learnt a great deal, to Madrid.

Originally posted September 8, 2015

This time I went to Italy, specifically to the Hospital San Lazarus in Alba, to assist Dr. Fassolis with his training in anatomic vaporization of the prostate with the GreenLight laser. Dr. Fassolis has already got a great experience in prostate vaporization and he wanted to learn a couple of surgical tips and tricks to perform a proper anatomic vaporization.

We did three operations that went very well and I was happy to see how fast he learnt to perform the technique to perfection!

From Italy I departed to Brussels to participate in another advanced robotic surgical course at ORSI.

Originally posted September 3, 2015

I started this season traveling to Strasbourg, where I reached a dinner with a group of local urologists where I gave a talk on laser for the treatment of BPH.

The following morning we went to Clinique Adassa, where they had prepared 5 patients to perform GreenLEP (Green Laser Enucleation of the Prostate) with my help. I assisted Dr. Weidmann and Dr. Faure to perform their first cases.

After finishing the surgical session, I drove to Montbeliard, where we had a similar plan for the following day. In the morning I went to Hopital Nord Franche Comté, in Montbeliard, where Dr. Atassi had prepared 8 patients to operate in two operating rooms during the day.

It was a tough session, we did not stop working all day.

Everything went well, and it was very clear that this is an advanced technique that can be taught and learnt with relative ease when there is previous experience with prostate vaporization and when the surgeon already has the basic skills and understanding of the physics to manipulate the green laser.

That night we went to the wonderful Museum Peugeot, where we had dinner and also I gave a talk on laser and BPH to the attending urologists.

The next morning I woke up early and returned to Madrid to rest!

Originally posted August 26, 2015

This time I travelled to Belgium to participate in an advanced three-day training course on radical prostatectomy at ORSI with Prof. Alex Mottrie.

In September I will return to complete the second part of the course for another three days.

It has been a great experience and an extremely well conceived, didactic and comprehensive course.

Prof. Mottrie is a great robotic surgeon and despite the fact that we have worked for the past 8 years with Dr. Richard Gastón, who is considered the "guru" of robotic surgery worldwide, and that we are spoiled by his geniality, it is always a pleasure to share with expert surgeons like Prof. Mottrie, compare the different points of view and the alternative surgical strategies.

It was also very nice to share with other urologists from Australia, Scotland, India, Italy and The Netherlands.

Originally posted August 10, 2015

Again I was invited to participate in the TV program Saber Vivir, this time directed by Teresa Viejo, in which we spoke on urinary tract infections in the summer time. As always it was a pleasure to participate and spread useful healthcare related concepts through Spanish TV. The program can be seen here.

Originally posted July 31, 2015

This time I went to the Hill Clinic in Sofia, Bulgaria, to film a teaching video on the Green laser en bloc enucleation technique that the surgical instrument manufacturer Richard Wolf wants to distribute worldwide.

We performed several operations and we filmed the technique step by step as well as many explanations on surgical technique.

It is a good opportunity to teach the technique I developed now 6 years ago to urologists worldwide. I am very happy with the simplicity of it as well as with the results we obtain. It is a very important advance on the surgical treatment of BPH that is going to allow many urologists to learn the technique in a simple way.

Originally posted July 30, 2015

This time I went to Milán to visit the European Institute of Oncology in Italy. There I met Prof. Ottavio de Cobelli who invited me to his operating room to witness a Da Vinci robotic radical prostatectomy in a patient with prostate cancer.

It was an interesting morning in which I could see the strategies they use systematically. It was their first day with the new Robot Da Vinci Xi and they had to use some tricks to be able to work with the alexis access port which was perfect for the 12 mm tracers, but not so good for the 8 mm robotic ports from the new Da Vinci Robot.

It was a very interesting morning. Dr. Cobelli is a great expert. These experiences let me copy the good ideas from other centers, but it also makes me realize the incredible quality level of our work with the Da Vinci Robot, inspired by Dr. Richard Gaston.

Then I went to the airport to travel to Sofia the next day, I have been invited to produce an educational video on GreenLight Enucleation of the prostate.

Originally posted July 24, 2015

As usual, Dr. Gastón came to Madrid to work with me at Clínica CEMTRO and we performed two days of radical prostatectomy cases prostatectomía radical robótica.

We are very impressed with the functional results we are obtaining in the patients we have operated during the last few months with the latest generation Da Vinci robot. The robot itself is a technological wonder, but what is really important to be able to achieve these results, a high quality urinary continence and the preservation of erectile function, is the vast experience of Dr. Gaston in robotic surgery. To me it is an immense privilege to be able to assist him every month and to learn from a master like him. In surgery it is paramount to share the experience, what has been learnt by one surgeon performing thousands of cases, to avoid mistakes, to achieve objectives. Learning from a true master is a luxury and an unparalleled opportunity.

After many years dedicated with devotion to the treatment of prostatic diseases, I feel we have managed to build up a urology department where we offer the best in the diagnosis of prostate cancer and in the treatment of BPH and prostate cancer.

Originally posted July 15, 2015

This time we received the visit of Dr. Leopoldo Cogorno, from Hospital Infanta Sofía, from Madrid, Dr. Ernesto de Nova, from the Hospital Gereral de Elche, Dr. Alvaro Juarez Soto, from the Hospital de Jerez, Dr. Jose Manuel Fernández Montero, from the Hospital Marbella Highcare. We also were accompanied by Dr. David Rendón, ex-staff member from ICUA who is now living and working in Medellín, Colombia.

I performed 5 operations during the afternoon that went very well, and allowed us to demonstrate the versatility of the GreenLight laser for the treatment of BPH, for enucleation, vaporization, ejaculation preserving techniques, etc.

We had good critics in twitter ;-)

Originally posted July 10, 2015

This time I went to Barcelona early to perform a surgical demonstration at Hospital Quirón in Barcelona, where I did two GreenLEP (Green Laser Enucleation of the Prostate) operations to two patients with big sized prostates, 95 and 110 cc.

Everything went very well and I could demonstrate the efficiency of the technique, as the operations only took 35 and 45 minutes from beginning to end.

Urologists at Quirón were fascinated with the technique. It is very impressive to see the easiness with which it is possible to treat these big adenomas, with little bleeding, and very fast. It is an elegant, intuitive, anatomic and safe technique.

They told me later that patients were very well, although I already knew they were ;-). I returned to Madrid to rest for the weekend, summer is coming!

Originally posted July 3, 2015

Again I went to Cimbra to operate with Dr. Antonio Oliveira at Hospital Idelamed. Dr. Oliveira is now performing GreenLEP regularly and he is happy with his results.

We had a patient who had been submitted to prostatic arterial embolization despite having a stone in the bladder, and a prostate 170 cc in volume. After a total failure of embolization and not experiencing any improvement, he decided to undergo endoscopic enucleation with the GreenLight laser.

To me it was a new clinical situation and it was interesting to see how the dissection of the capsular plane could be performed without any trouble. In the postoperative TRUS control the prostatic fossa was very huge.

I am very skeptical about prostatic arteries embolization. It seems to me a relatively illogical concept, to produce a prostatic infarction and then wait for the tissue to evolve, to atrophy. Very unpredictable. Some interventional radiologists are promoting it without having much scientific evidence to do it, and they apply it without any urological criteria (¿in a patient with a stone in the bladder?).

I think endoscopic enucleation in the hands of a properly trained urologist is today the best option for the surgical treatment of BPH. Endoscopic enucleation is without doubt the best option in patients with large prostates.

Originally posted June 29, 2015

Again I travelled to Paris to participate in the congress "Challenges in Endourology" in Paris. The last two years I was invited to perform live surgery, but this time I was invited to give a talk at the plenary session on the treatment of BPH.

The talk will be available in webcast format in about a month at the congress website.

Originally posted June 26, 2015

We were performing a Da Vinci Xi Robotic session at Clinica CEMTRO in Madrid with Dr. Gaston when we received the visit of the prestigious Dr. Henry Woo, from Sydney, Australia.

It was a pleasure to demonstrate Dr. Woo the robotic radical prostatectomy with Dr. Gastón. He was very impressed with the quality of the work we do at Clínica CEMTRO.

Also during these dates we launched our new web on robotic surgery at www.icirugiarobotica.com and the new twitter acount for our robotic unit @UroRobotica, as well as the new corporate image of the joint work of ICUA and Clínica CEMTRO.

Visit our web if you want to see Dr. Gastón explaining the advantages of robotic surgery and the opinion of the patients!

Originally posted June 24, 2015

As usual, we received the visit at our operating room from Dr. Miguel Angel Alonso and Dr. Mario de Arriba Alonso, from the Hospital de León in Spain.

I performed several operations and was able to show the different techniques of anatomic vaporization and Green Laser enucleation of the prostate. They were very happy to have seen the new possibilities of the GreenLight laser in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Originally posted June 22, 2015

This time I went to Bulgaria invited to participate in an interview at the National Bulgarian TV. It was very difficult because the presentar spoke to me in Bulgarian and the translator did simultaneous translation both when I was asked and when I was answering. I tried to spread the message that men should visit the urologist and that this is the way to prevent the consequences of prostatic diseases. In my experience in Bulgaria, men there do not visit the urologist and they only consult when they have serious problems.

The interview can be viewed here: http://hillclinic.com/lechenieto-e-lesno-kogato-patsientat-dojde-navreme/

Originally posted June 19, 2015

This time I visited the Hospital Charité, at the University of Berlín, Campus Bejamin Franklin, to show Dr. John Buckendahl and Dr. Hannes Cash how to perform anatomic vaporization and GreenLight enucleation.

I did three operations, this time without the luxury of a morcellator, so we had to do TURP morcellation, which makes surgical procedures a little bit longer. But everything went very well.

They were excited to see the interphase between surgical capsule and adenoma, and I am sure they will end up learning this wonderful procedures.

Originally posted June 18, 2015

This time I travelled to Nuremberg, Germany, to participate in a mentoring session for Dr. Lubke in the GreenLEP (Green Laser Enucleation of the Prostate) technique.

For two days we operated together and Dr. Lubke was able to perform cases independently, and he did very well!

From Nuremberg I flew to Berlín, where I had to do a surgical demonstration the following day.