Surgeries in Sofia and New Piranha Morcellator

This time I went to Sofia to operate at the Hill Clinic, and we started a study to evaluate the performance of the new Vmax blades for the Piranha Morcellator, from Richard Wolf.

We did 10 GreenLight Enucleations of the prostate in two days, and we took the opportunity to register the time it took to morcellate the tissue with the new blades. It was really impressive, in one of the patients we could morcellate 70 grams of tissue in 5 minutes!!

I firmly believe this improved morcellation is going to make enucleation more easy and affordable for surgeons, as the morcellation step of the operation was so much shortened that we could operate the 10 patients in less than an hour!

We will submit the results of the study to the European Association of Urology congress that will take place next year in Milan.

AURO Congress in Genoa, Italy

After my trip to Morocco, I flew to Milano and from there I drove to Genoa, where I participated at the AURO (Hospital urologists association) congress in Italy.

It was a very interesting session where we spoke of Holmium Laser, Tulium Laser and GreenLight laser for the treatment of BPH. I always learn so much from my colleagues...

I specially enjoyed a video of an enucleation en bloc of a bladder tumor presented by Dr. Migliari, a very interesting technique, maybe with a bright future.

Surgeries at the Military Hospital in Rabat, Morocco

This time I went to Morocco to show the Urologists at the Military Hospital in Rabat the wonders of the GreenLight laser for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

We did a surgical session with two patients, one with a 60 gram prostate and another one with 100 grams, that went very well.

After sleeping that night in Rabat, I departed from Casablanca to Milano, to participate at the AURO Congress.

I am in Minnesota, USA participating in a meeting with a group on experts in BPH. In one of the recesses I was looking up papers in Pubmed and found this. It is an editorial comment I was invited to do on a recent paper. It has already been published online by the prestigious journal Actas Urologicas Españolas.

Again I travelled to Modena, Italy, to the Hospital Hesperia. I was invited to help Dr. Giovanni Ferrari to operate his first patients with BPH with the new GreenLight XPS 180 watt laser.

We did three cases during the morning that went really well.

Dr. Ferrari told me that this hospital has the best statistics in cardiac surgery in the country, and he proposed me to collaborate with him and travel regularly to Modena to treat his patients. Then I returned to Madrid.

Surgical session in Brescia, Italy

After my trip to Pordenone, finally I made it to Brescia, and Dr. Alessandro Marano took me out for dinner to a fantastic restaurant.

The next morning we woke up early to go to the Instituto Clinico Santa Ana for the surgical session. 

There he introduced me to his colleague, Dr. Alessandro Gatti, who was with us all morning. We did three operations. The first was more difficult and I did it, and in the second I assisted Dr. Gatti and in the third I assisted Dr. Marano. They are two great endoscopists and they got it all very fast.

Then I returned to Madrid to rest with my family over the weekend. The summer stayed behind... all the good things pass fast ;-)

Training session in Pordenone, Italy

After my visit to Pordenone in July, the local urologists were convinced of the wonders of the GreenLight laser for the treatment of BPH, and this time they asked me to mentor them with their first cases.

We did three morning cases that went very well. Normally in the teaching sessions I try to teach my colleagues two things. Firstly the physics regulating the interaction of laser and prostatic tissue, and the correct application to surgical technique. Secondly, the surgical strategy that allows to perform these procedures safely and efficaciously. Also I am by their side in these first cases to be able to assist them if any problem arises and to confirm that the endpoint of the operation is the best possible.

That same day I took the train to Brescia, where I would participate in another training session the following day.

Live surgery at the World Congress of Endourology in Istanbul

Yesterday I performed a live surgery at the World Congress of Endourology that took place in Istanbul, Turkey.

In the same session there were other surgical procedures that were transmitted to the congress auditorium and there I met old friends, like Dr. Martov (Moscow), Dr. Erol (Istanbul), Dr. Aho (Cambridge), and I did new ones, as Dr. Hermann (Germany). We had to operate with different technologies on patients with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH).

I had to operate a high risk patient, with a cardiac problem and with a prostate of about 90 cc, that went very well. I showed the capsular localization technique in detail and during the operation I answered to the questions of the expert panel at the auditorium.

It is always an honor to participate in this kind of activity in such important congresses. Live surgery allows us to show the truth of each surgical technique to the audience. I left very happy and satisfied. It was a pity that I had to return immediately to Madrid and I could not stay for the remainder of the congress.

With Tev Aho before departing to Madrid