Conferences in Malaga

Last thursday, after finishing my clinics in Madrid, I took the car and drove to Malaga. I went to the wonderful Don Carlos Hotel, that hosted a meeting on Laser in Urology organised by the technical secretariat of the Spanish Urological Association, with more than 95 Spanish urologists registered.

The meeting took place on Friday. I had to talk about three topics, the physics of laser and its application to prostatic surgery, the advantages of enucleation over vaporization with the GreenLight HPS laser and on the different types of lasers used for the treatment of BPH, advantages and disadvantages.

It was a very intense meeting, very interactive and very interesting. I was impressed to see the enormous interest of Spanish urologists in the GreenLight. I think the GreenLEP enucleation technique caused a great impact as well, because it opens a new way to offer a definitive treatment for patients with BPH of any size, with minimal surgical risk.

It was also a fantastic opportunity to visit the School where I studied when I was 16 years old in Malaga. This school hosted the high performance center of the Spanish Swimming Federation. I spent a wonderful year swimming and studying there, surrounded by wonderful friends. That year I won the Spanish National Championship of the Complete Swimmer in my age group. It was a truly happy year! Being able to see the swimming pool where we trained twice a day (in the photo) really moved me and brougth back fantastic memories. I then went to the Restaurant "El Tintero", a fantastic experience that I recommend to anyone visiting Malaga.

Then I returned to Madrid, I still have to work Monday and Tuesday. After the Easter Holidays I still have to go to Montevideo, then to the European Association of Urology Congress that will take place in Barcelona, and then to Venezuela, Bulgaria... I hope to be able to rest a little before all that.

Important visitor from Paris

Today I did two operations in Madrid. I received the visit of Dr. Bertrand Lukacks, from Paris. He is very well known for his publications on Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia.

I did two GreenLEP (GreenLight Enucleation of the Prostate) operations. Dr. Lukacks was very impressed by the technique. He has a broad experience in GreenLight vaporization and has used other lasers. He promised he would try to use this technique on his return to Paris.

He commented on various aspects that he considered very interesting of this technique:

- One, that the haemostasis of the GreenLight is better than that of the Holmium laser.
- Two, he was very impressed for the easiness of finding the enucleation plane and the good differentiation of the capsular plane (of a rose color) and the adenoma, which is whitish.
- Three and last, he was also impressed by the usefulness of the side firing fiber for this technique. It allows to vaporize residual tissue, to coagulate small vessels with ease, and that was surprising for him.

I had a great time with him, and it was a big honor to receive his visit and his very interesting comments.

More surgeries in Sofia

This weekend I flew to Sofia in Bulgaria again. Dr. Kalchev had prepared 10 patients who needed an operation for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, we operated them over the weekend.

We used the new enucleation technique in the bigger glands and vaporization for the smaller glands. It is wonderful to be able to remove the whole prostatic adenoma with minimum risk and complications.

A tough weekend, but a great opportunity to continue learning with difficult and challenging cases, in good company!