Curso de formación en Bulgaria

This weekend I travelled to Sofia as usual, to run a surgical course on GreenLight laser enucleation at the Hill Clinic.

This time we received the visit of several urologists, Dr. Tev Aho, from the University of Cambridge, UK, my old friend Dr. Botan Hawas, from the Central Hospital of Vasteras, Sweden, Dr. Augusto from Florence, Italy and Dr. Jorge Mora, from Bilbao (who is not in the photo).

Dr. Aho is an international expert in surgery with the Holmium Laser and he was curious to see the GreenLight laser in action to perform enucleation. We had very interesting conversations.

Visitors to our operating room at Clínica CEMTRO

Today we received some visitors to our operating room at Clinica CEMTRO who came to see the new surgical techniques for the treatment of BPH with the GreenLight laser.

We received the visit of two french urologists, Dr. Christophe Pollux and Dr. Mathieu Demesmaeker from the hospitals Aunay Sur Boix y Marne la Vallu and Dr. Carlos Vallejo from Hospital CIMA in Barcelona.

Everything went very well, as always in these sessions we spoke comprehensively about all the details of this amazing surgical procedure for the treatment of BPH.

Kick off of our robotic program with Dr. Richard Gaston

This week we kicked off the robotic surgery unit at ICUA-Clínica CEMTRO. Dr. Richard Gastón came to operate 9 patients in three days of intensive surgery. All the operations went very well and I am very proud of the high quality robotic surgical team we have created.

Assisting Dr. Gaston during the surgical session

We had visited Clinique Saint Agustin in Bordeaux several times to copy step by step all the processes, all the tricks, al the materials they use there. We had trained all the personnel involved, nurses, auxiliary personnel, anesthetists, and of course our urology team. We also did courses on the operation of the new Da Vinci Xi Robot as they do not have it in Bordeaux yet.

Dr. Richard Gastón, a team member at ICUA, operating with the Da Vinci Xi

Everything went very well. The intensive training of all involved really paid off. We could do the operations as we had planned and we all felt comfortable and happy, each of us with our own function and Dr. Gaston felt very comfortable with the support of the team at ICUA and Clinica CEMTRO and with the new Da Vinci Xi robot, that brings new advantages for the surgeon and the patient compared to the older system.

With Dr. Romero preparing a patient prior to docking the robot

We are very happy for two reasons:

- One, to be able to offer our patients the most advanced technology in the diagnosis of prostatic diseases (with our prostate mapping system, Biopsee, for the diagnosis of prostate cancer based on 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging fusion), and also in the treatment of Benign prostatic Hyperplasia (GreenLight laser and Holmium laser) and prostate cancer (Da Vinci Xi Robot, Criosurgery, Focal One- HIFU).

- Two, to bring together the unmatchable experience of Dr. Gastón in robotic surgery of urological cancer with our huge experience in the minimally invasive treatment of BPH with laser.

This positions us as one of the centers in the world with more experience in the treatment and diagnosis of prostatic diseases. It is not so easy to find another center where patients can benefit from so much experience.

It is a true privilege to be able to work in optimal conditions with cutting edge technology.

After eight years of collaboration with Dr. Gastón in conventional laparoscopic surgery, now we enter the world of the most advanced surgery hand by hand with a true master of surgery.

Green Laser Surgery Course at the American Urological Association Annual Course in New Orleans

Again I went to the annual congress of the AUA, this time in New Orleans. My role in this congress was to participate as faculty in the course on Green Laser surgery and more specifically to speak about surgical technique for vaporization and enucleation.

The congress was as always very interesting, featuring a lot of novelties in all fields of urology. There were more than 15.000 attendees from all over the world.

Sadly I unexpectedly had to return to Madrid before the course and my friends Dr. Henry Woo and Dr. Oliver Reich gently exposed the presentations I had prepared.

Course at Clinica CEMTRO: A new paradigm in the minimally invasive treatment of BPH with the GreenLight Laser

At last the day arrived. We celebrated a course at Clinica CEMTRO in Madrid on the modern use of the GreenLight laser. We received the visit of at least 50 urologists from Spain, Italy and Portugal.

The course went very well and we alternated many 10-15 minute talks with three operations that I performed and were retransmitted live to the main auditorium at Clinica CEMTRO.

Dr. Luis Llanes presenting on the Physics of lasers

We were very happy for the scientific quality of all the presentations and for the great deal of participation of the urologists attending the course. The sponsor of the course, AMS, commented that we received excellent reviews for the course.

Dr. Romero reviewing the literature on lasers and BPH

Dr. McVeigh, from our department of anesthesia at CEMTRO

This video in Spanish reflects how it went and some opinions.

Surgeries at Hospital Reina Sofía in Murcia

This time I went to Murcia to perform several operations at Hospital Reina Sofía. There I met the head of the department of urology, Dr. Fontana and my old friend Andrés Sempere.

We performed three operations that went very well. I could demonstrate the three techniques, anatomic vaporization, median lobe enucleation and en bloc enucleation. All present were happy and satisfied and the operations went very well!

Laser for BPH course at Hospital de Mollet, Barcelona, Spain

This time I travelled to Barcelona to participate in a course organized by the department of urology at Hospital de Mollet in Barcelona. The program included four live surgeries.

Dr. José Placer performed a HoLEP procedure, Dr. Javier Sánchez, head of the department of urology performed a ThuLEP procedure and I did two cases, a GreenLEP procedure and an anatomic vaporization of the prostate.

The impression of my colleagues on the Green laser procedures was very good, due to the fact that it is the laser that allows a better visualization of the capsule-adenoma interphase. As always, interacting with my colleagues is always fantastic, I learn very much from all of them!