Portuguese National Association Congress

Thursday night I left Madrid to Oporto, and from there I was taken to Esposende, a turistic area where the Annual Congress of the APU (Portuguese Urological Association) was being celebrated.

My contribution was to participate in a symposium on GreenLight Laser for the treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. The only free moment was early in the morning. I had a chance to walk in this wonderful beach. Then I returned to Madrid. I had to operate on Friday afternoon.

Live surgery in Paris, France

This time I was invited to participate in the congress "Challenges in Endourology", that took place in Paris.

My role here was to perform a live surgical intervention that would be transmitted live to 400 urologists from all over the world. Also I participated in a video session where I had to present a video, right after surgery.

First I demonstrated the GreenLEP technique, the GreenLight Enucleation of the Prostate in a patient with a prostate weighing 100 grams. The operation was uneventful and there was no special incident. I could complete enucleation and morcellation and extraction of the adenomatous tissue in under 70 minutes. I received many questions from the floor and I was answering them while I was operating. In the photo, with Prof. Alexander Bachmann by my side.

Then I rushed to the hotel where the congress was being celebrated. I presented a video also on GreenLight Enucleation and I answered the questions they did to me. Attendees were very impressed with a prostatic enucleation with the GreenLight XPS 180 watt laser, with the absence of bleeding, with the fact that I enucleated the adenoma in one piece, with a side-firing fiber... they did not imagine this was possible.

Then I came to Madrid, happy after the meeting in Paris. During the last eight years I have lived dedicated to this, with a lot of sacrifice and a lot of passion for prostatic surgery. Devoted in body and soul to improve my technique to be able to offer it to my patients, and to be able to teach it to my colleagues so they can offer it to their patients... I felt the whole effort was worth it.

First GreenLight Surgeries in Belgrade, Serbia

This is the first time I visited Serbia. I was invited to inaugurate the first GreenLight XPS laser in this country.

First I gave a talk at the prestigious Urology Clinic at Belgrade, maybe one of the biggest urological centers in Europe (if we do not count Rusia), if my memory is correct, with 120 urology beds.

Then I went to the surgical theatre to perform three surgical operations, two vaporizations and one enucleation in one patient with a huge prostate.

The following day we woke up early to go to the Serbian National television where we participated in an interview on this new method to operate patients with symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Then I did other four operations, three vaporizations and another enucleation of a huge prostate.

I really liked serbian urologists, great surgeons in a not so privileged environment, with hunger for new technologies and an impresive thirst for learning.

Roadshow in Portugal

This week I travelled to Portugal, with the intention of carrying out workshops in three hospitals. One was in Figueira da Foz, another one in Braga and finally in Oporto. For different reasons we could not operate int he first two, and we only managed to operate in the third, Hospital San Joao in Porto.

There I performed three surgical operations on patients with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), with the GreenLight XPS 180 watt laser. I did two vaporizations and one enucleation. The local urologists were amazed. They want to come to visit in Madrid to see if they can learn the procedure. Some days later they told me patients were all OK.

We went all for lunch a wonderful beef steak and then I rushed to the airport. I had to travel to Serbia to help launch this new laser in this country.

Surgeries in Bulgaria

Again I travelled to Bulgaria to operate during the weekend at Hill Clinic in Sofia. This city really shines differently when the weather is good and there is sun...

We had three days of surgeries with 13 patients. The session really worked out well and we had no problem with the patients. The operations were fast and efficient, and the prostate sizes were not small!!!

This is the board at the entrance of the surgical theatre... with the patients list for two of the days. Not specially small prostates!!!

Second meeting of the Iberoamerican Group of Laser in Urology

The second meeting of the GRILUR (Grupo Iberoamericano de Láser en Urología) took place in Lima, Perú. We gathered there to discuss advanced techniques with GreenLight laser. Dr. Jorge Saldaña, from Lima, organised the meeting, with great success.

I took the responsibility of performing five surgeries with the GreenLight laser, I did five GreenLEPs (GreenLight Enucleation of the Prostate), to be able to explain the step by step way to perform it to the attendees, who were very interested in starting this in their work centers. All the operations were uneventful, it is a mature technique, and very reproducible, and all the attendees understood the advantages and peculiarities of this technique over conventional vaporization.

All the group attending GRILUR 2011, after the surgical marathon. Dr. Alexis Alva, Dr. Daniel Porto, Dr. Cesar Quincot, Dr. Luciano Nuñez, Dr. Dario Soto, Dr. Marcelo Borghi, Dr. Jorge Saldaña, Dr. Javier Zeballos, Dr. Elvis Sueldo, Dr. Fernando Gomez Sancha, Dra. Saskia Suarez, Dr. Ricardo Yepes, Dr. Carlos Zuñiga.

The second day we discussed the future of GRILUR, up to now it was a meeting of friends interested in exchanging experiences and knowledge on the use of lasers in urology.

Dr. Saskia Suarez, Dr. Ricardo Yepes, from Ecuador, with ample experience in the use of the GreenLight Laser, are in charge of organising the next GRILUR meeting in Quito, Ecuador, in July 2012. On my left hand side, Dr. Jorge Saldaña, organiser of this year's meeting.

We decided to push the group forward, so every year we will cellebrate an annual meeting where we will offer live surgical demonstrations and scientific presentations to allow to compare different kinds of lasers used in urology, for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and urinary stone disease. If any spanish or southamerican urologist wants to join the group, please contact us at GRILUR@googlegroups.com.

Surgeries in Policlínica Guipuzkoa

Yesterday I took an early flight to San Sebastián, to go to Policlínica Guipuzkoa with my friends and great urologists Dr. Azparren and Dr. Madina. They are very experienced laser surgeons and wished to see the new GreenLight XPS in action.

We had a great time together and everything was uneventful. I returned to Madrid to pack, I have to fly to Lima now.

New published paper

I just received the paper we have had published at Urodinámica Aplicada, a prestigious journal of the SINUG (International Society of Neurourology and Urogynaecology). It is the result of our collaboration with Dr. Fernando Itza (pelvic pain expert), Dr. Daniel Zarza (neurofisiologist) and Lydia Serra (physiotherapist specialised in chronic pelvic pain) in the treatment of patients with Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome.