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.

American Urological Association Annual Congress: Washington DC

This time the AUA congress took place in Washington DC.

In this occasion I had three things to do:
First, I participated in a course on advanced techniques with the new GreenLight XPS 180 watt laser, with Prof. Oliver Reich, from Munich.

Second, I participated in a Symposium on lower urinary tract symptoms due to bening prostatic hyperplasia, in front of more than 100 urologists from all over south america, with Dr. Mark Spearman, a very well known Guru of this subject from the UK.

And finally, we presented our work at the congress, a summary of the IGLU's (International GreenLight Users Group) experience with the new GreenLight XPS 180 watt laser.

Many dinners, meetings, courses, bumping into friends, new projects and ideas, the AUA congress is always fun and nice, and a good opportunity to update oneself.

Surgeries with Dr. Richard Gastón

As every month, Dr. Richard Gaston came with us to operate at Clinica CEMTRO. Dr. Gaston is maybe (and without maybe) the most experienced urological laparoscopist in the world. In this session we did three operations that were uneventful. Dr. Gastón is a true surgical master!

Visitors from Norway, Bulgaria and Spain

In this occasion we received the visit of Dr. Vyturys Svedas, from Norway, Dr. Anakievski, from Bulgaria and Dr. Ricardo Esteban. We did two cases, a normal vaporization and a GreenLEP procedure and then we went out for some flamenco. This time I forgot to take a photo for the blog ;-(