Surgical Marathon in Sofia

Again I travelled to Sofía to help Dr. Kalchev with his learning curve with the Greenlight HPS laser for the treatment of BPH. In a weekend we did 13 operations and operated patients with prostates of all sizes... Everyone of them left the clinic the morning after the operation. 

It was a surgical marathon, but we also had some time to enjoy. Dr. Kalchev showed me the video of an interview that was broadcasted by the Bulgarian National TV, they have published it in their webiste. The introduction of the Greenlight HPS laser in Bulgaria has generated an immense interest. My daughters came with me to Bulgaria this time, and they had a great time getting to know Sofia.

Flash trip to Boston

This was a flash trip to Boston. I had to meet there with Mr. Gordon Muir, from London, and Shahin Tabatabei, from Boston, to discuss some common projects related with prostatic surgery. I took the photos with my mobile, for some reason they looked pink!

With my friend Gordon Muir, visiting the Mass General Hospital.

With Dr. Shahin Tabatabei, during our visit.

I only spent a night there and I returned in a direct flight to Madrid. I landed in Madrid and went straight to my clinic, to work, a little tired.

Surgery in Gran Canaria

Again I travelled to Gran Canaria to operate with Dr. Juarez del Dago. In this ocassion he invited me to give him a hand with a patient with a huge sized prostate. The operation was very succesful, and we had a chance to talk after a "long time no see".

The following day I went back to Madrid, I had to connect with a flight to Boston.

Resident session at the University Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Madrid

This friday I had the great pleasure to be invited to the residents session at the University Hospital Gregorio Marañón, in Madrid, to talk about greenlight laser surgery for BPH. I loved to share my experience with the residents in this hospital and meet some old friends and colleagues as Dr. Lledó, Dr. Escribano and Dr. Durán Merino, among others.

Then I rushed to the hospital, I had patients waiting to be operated!

III Urology meeting for primary care physicians and urology residents

Shortly after my arrival from Taiwan I participated in this scientific meeting invited by Dr. Juan Carlos Ruiz de la Roja.

Dr. Ruiz de la Roja is an old friend and colleague and maybe the most relevant communicator of urology in Spain, after publishing his two books: Hablemos de tu próstata y Potencia tu vida sexual, consejos de un médico.

In this meeting urologists and primary care physicians interact and we communicate recent advances and advice for the management of urological patients in the primary care setting. My role was to discuss the use of the greenlight HPS laser in Urology.

Trip to Asia III: Taiwan

From Shanghai I flew to Taipei, and when I arrived I went to walk around it's famous night markets. Taipei must be the city with most motorbikes in the world, and it is a modern and nice city with heavy traffic.

The following day I visited the Tri-Service General Hospital, a military hospital serving Taiwan's army, the navy and the air force. First I gave a talk on Greenlight HPS treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Then we went to the surgical theatre, where I helped the hospital's urologists to perform a case, there were also urologists from other hospitals. It was a really interesting case.

 


That day Dr. Richard Santucci, a famous reconstructive urological surgeon, was also visiting the hospital, and we had a very nice chat over a Taiwanese banquet consisting on 11 or 12 courses.

That same night I took the speed train to Kwashioung, the second main city in Taiwan, where I had to make a presentation on greenlight laser and BPH in the 2009 Asia-Pacific Uro-oncology Summit.

The dinner after the congress was very nice and fun, with a lot of karaoke going on. I shared the table with Dr. Paibul Boonyapanichskul, from Bangkok; Dr. Hwancheol Son, from Seoul; our host, Prof. Po Hui Chiang, and Prof. Lawrence Klotz, from Canada. I had a lot of fun!

That same night I went back to Taipei to prepare my return to Madrid. I had time enough to visit the tallest building in Taipei, where I could see the city from above. It was a great farewell after a long trip.

Trip to Asia II: Shanghai

From Hong Kong I travelled to Shanghai, I arrived at night and it was incredible to see the amount of skyscrapers in this wonderful city. It reminded me very much of the movie "Blade Runner".

This is the view of Shanghai I had from my hotel room.

The following morning I was picked up by Dr. Henry Chen, the Chinese urologist with the largest experience in the treatment of BPH with the Greenlight laser. We went to Shanghai's Number 1 People's Hospital to perform a surgical operation that would be transmitted live to the venue of the 30th Congress of the Société Internationale d'Urologie.

The operation was succesful, although we had to calibrate the camera because we had relatively bad camera image, but we managed to solve it. It was a pity that the transmission only lasted 30 minutes, because we could not show the final result of the operation to the audience. We had a good discussion though during the part that was transmitted.

The following day I presented the new technique of Greenlight laser enucleation in a congress session. It was very welcome by the audience. The combination of initial vaporization to facilitate subsequent enucleation could prove to be an optimal strategy to operate bigger prostates with safety and efficacy. Many urologists have problems treating big glands and also they were afraid of morcellation. The new Piranha Morcellator from Richard Wolf has improved this process significantly, and it is much safer than it was before.

 

Then my contribution to the congress finished, and I took the opportunity to get to know Shanghai, a surprising and wonderful city.

I had never seen Malls so huge. 10 floors and thousands of shops and restaurants. Amazing city, Shanghai.