My talk during this year's American Urological Association Annual Congress

This year I was invited to lecture during the AUA Congress, invited by the CAU (Confederación Americana de Urología), to speak about different types of lasers and their advantages and disadvantages for endoscopic enucleation of the prostate.

The congress was going to take place in Las Vegas, but the AUA decided to make it fully virtual due to COVID and the difficulty to travel to the US. I had to send a video with my presentation.

Almost every year, the industry of medical devices launches new products and I have the privilege to be able to try all technologies for Endoscopic Enucleation of the prostate. At ICUA-Clínica CEMTRO we work with cutting-edge technology and in this talk, I discuss my conclusions after trying all different surgical tools.

Full lenght En Bloc Enucleation procedure at PURE Urology

This time I received and invitation to participate in a webinar explaining the En bloc technique for HoLEP in a forum called PURE Urology in Facebook, via Youtube. 

This is the video:

Semilive surgery during the European Association of Urology Annual Congress

This time I participated in the European Urology Congress with a semilive presentation of a surgical procedure. I did a Holmium laser en bloc enucleation of the prostate using a pulse modulation laser (Virtual Basket).

During the presentation I spoke about three big steps forwards in prostate endoscopic enucleation, the en bloc approach with early apical release and preservation of sphincteric mucosa, published by our group, the enormous advantages of pulse modulation like Virtual Basket and the high speed of newer morcellators, that has changed the paradigm of Holmium laser enucleation. It is now a very fast surgery, usually less than 1 hour, very safe and it allows for a fast return to a normal life, significantly reducing the risk of temporary stress urinary incontinence postoperatively.

Live transmission from our operating room

This time, trying to adapt to the worldwide situation, we performed a live transmission from our operating room at ICUA-Clínica CEMTRO, of several en-bloc HoLEP cases. It was a pilot experience, open to everyone, without any commercial support from any company.

211 urologists registered, who could watch our work and specially the en-bloc endoscopic enucleation of the prostate with early apical release using a pulse modulated laser.

We are exploring the option to retransmit our operations via ZOOM to urologists who wish to learn these techniques. Before we would receive visitors from all over the world to our operating room, so now we feel obliged to offer them a chance to visit us virtually in times of COVID.

Our new article on retroperitoneal robotic assisted partial nephrectomy

We have a great team of urologists at ICUA, always learning and so motivated to work and publish new papers...

Webinar for Peruvian urologists on BPH

This time I participated in a webinar where I discussed the integral management of BPH of big size. This was addressed to Peruvian urologists and also from other latinamerican countries. The session was sponsored by Jam Pharma, who is launching a collection of new drugs and combinations for the treatment of BPH.

I had to wake up early as it took place in Perú at 8 pm, that corresponded to 4 am in Sofia, Bulgaria, where I was at that moment.

The organisers thrower a good show, that made me remember the sponsored dinners in urological congresses, when we could go to congresses in presence. Truly it was quite emotive.

The presentation, the discussion and the clinical case presented by Dr. Rocio Zavala were very interesting and it was really an emotive and interesting webinar. 

HoLEP mentorship at the University Hospital in Getafe, Madrid

During the month of May I have visited in three occasions the University Hospital in Getafe, Madrid, to help them initiate their HoLEP program. It is a surgical technique that might seem somewhat difficult at the beginning, and then becomes much easier and it is possible to learn to perform it safely. I hope the department of Urology if the Hospital keeps innovating and growing and it is a pleasure for me to help achieve that objective.

In the photo, with our nurse Marina, who joined us, and Dr. Luis Llanes, head of department of urology and Dr. Diego Torres as well as Carmen Rodrigo Donoso, one of the chief nurses in the hospital.

Invitation to participate in a book on minimally invasive urology by the Brasilian Society of Urology

I recently received a very nice invitation from the Brasilian Society of Urology - Section Rio de Janeiro, to contribute with a surgical video to the book on minimally invasive urological surgery they are preparing. 

Invitation to participate in the National Urology Congress of the Philippine's Urological Association

 Recently I got this invitation, that I accepted with pleasure.

Webinar with Turkish urologists

I was invited this time to participate in a clinical session with Turkish urologists, that were going to discuss our paper describing the En bloc HoLEP technique with early apical release. 

They did an excellent detailed review of our paper and then we could comment all the aspects about the technique, how to learn it and its results.

Journal of Endourology Webinar

This time I participated in a webinar addressed to Australian urologists. I showed two "semilive" cases, one a normal sized prostate, and then a huge one. 

Both cases were performed in under one hour, and it was well received, as HoLEP seems to be taking off in Australia and there are many urologists over there wanting to learn.

Webinar of the Journal of Endourology

This time I participated in this webinar organized by the Journal of Endourology on endoscopic enucleation of the prostate with Holmium laser MOSES 2.0. 

MOSES 2.0 is a recent sophistication of the Holmium laser that confers better hemostasis and cutting properties, allowing us surgeons to perform a HoLEP with less risk, faster and it even allows to perform this procedure in an ambulatory setting.

It was very well attended and very interesting to share with international experts in this field.

My talk explained how the En bloc technique with early apical release that we described combined with MOSES has pushed further and improved the results we obtain with this technique. 

Online conference on HoLEP with Pulse Modulation with the new 120 W Lumenis MOSES laser

This time I lectured Israeli Urologists on MOSES HoLEP with the Lumenis 120 W laser.

After the talk, we had a chance to debate on how the advances in technology and surgical technique make HoLEP (Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate) more affordable and the current standard for the treatment of BPH. 

I was specially happy to find friends that once were visiting us to learn HoLEP and to hear from them that they are successfully doing cases. 

Webinar: Role of micro-ultrasound in the diagnosis of prostate cancer

This time I moderated this session online on the use of micro ultrasound in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. The presenters were Dr. Pereira, from Bilbao and Dr. López Alcina, from Valencia. Both presented their data and impressions on where this new technology fits in the diagnosis of prostate cancer and the potential role in active surveillance, monitorization of focal treatment and some new other applications that will possible gain force as this technology becomes more widespread.

Dr. Pereira's team was the first in the world to acquire this technology. We at ICUA-Clínica CEMTRO were the second team to use it in Spain and Dr. López Alcina right after us, so it was a very interesting webinar full of first-hand experiences. We have all published our data and we keep studying the data and the results we are getting to better understand how to make a better use of this potentially game changing technology.

Participation in the Masterclass in Endourology organized by the Endourology Society

This time I participated in the Masterclass in Endourology organized by the Endourology Society with a talk on the new Holmium lasers with pulse modulation. You can see it following this link.

New paper in the World Journal of Urology

Recently this editorial letter was published in the World Journal of Urology, where I reflect on the need to evolve from the traditional techniques for the treatment of BPH, open simple prostatectomy and transurethral resection of the prostate, to endoscopic enucleation. 

The paper can be accessed for some time in this link rdcu.be/cfM9a

 

Zoom live surgery retransmitted to Australia

In these trying times we have modernized to be able to broadcast surgeries online, so that other colleagues can learn the techniques we perform at ICUA-Clínica CEMTRO.

Before the pandemic, it was quite usual to have visitors in our operating room. Today that is no longer possible but we can use the internet to do the same.

Today we broadcasted two live surgeries for Australian colleagues, one patient with a normal sized prostate, and a second one with a very large gland. We obtained 180 grams of tissue at the end of surgery, that took approximately 1 hour.

A new way of communication, very useful to share experiences and knowledge. I am sure we will do many of these broadcasts from now on.

Semilive surgery at the international virtual congress UROVIVO

This time I participated in the online congress UROVIVO. I presented a semilive surgery, an En bloc Holmium laser enucleation using the Lumenis 120 W laser with MOSES 2.0.

Everything went very well and I received positive feedback from the session. I have uploaded the video of the surgery to my YouTube channel, with my comments, as the urovivo session with moderator comments can only be accessed from the Urovivo website.