Originally posted July 11, 2021

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.

Originally posted July 7, 2021

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.

Originally posted June 4, 2021

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

Originally posted May 22, 2021

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. 

Originally posted May 21, 2021

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.

Originally posted May 6, 2021

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. 

Originally posted April 30, 2021

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

Originally posted April 30, 2021

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.

Originally posted April 28, 2021

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.

Originally posted April 23, 2021

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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

 

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.

Originally posted March 4, 2021

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.

Originally posted December 8, 2020

This time I did a webcast for urologists from Australia & New Zealand who are interested in HoLEP- 

I explained how HoLEP has been simplified and how it is now a relatively easy to learn technique.

The meeting was lively and there was some interaction, it was nice for my colleagues down under that this is an affordable technique to learn if one follows the right path. I also spoke about the changes in technology that facilitate this technique, and ease the learning process, as advances in fast morcellation and Holmium pulse modulation, as the MOSES system from Lumenis.

One of the slides reflected how sometimes experts have overemphasized how this technique was only ment for extremely talented surgeons, which I do not share at all.

Soon we will perform a live surgical transmission of two cases, to demonstrate that all I said is real. 

Originally posted November 6, 2020

This time I participated in this important European congress in Endourology, organized by Dr. Cesare Scoffone in Milano, Italy. It had to be online due to the pandemic.

I participated with a talk on endoscopic enucleation with early apical dissection and sphincter's mucosal preservation. And with a live surgical case that I posted in YouTube.

It was a pleasure to see my endourologist friends from all over the world in this online meeting, in this trying times. The video shows a HoLEP with the 150 W Holmium laser from Quanta System, with the virtual basket pulse modulation from this console.

Originally posted October 13, 2020

We have recently published this paper on the recent advances in Anatomic Enucleation of the Prostate with Holmium laser.

The paper discusses our evolution in surgical technique from the use of the GreenLight laser to the Holmium laser and describes in detail the surgical technique we published last year in the World Journal of Urology. The development of this technique has allowed us to improve the results of HoLEP as it helps preserve the external sphincter optimally, which results in an extremely low risk of postoperative temporary stress incontinence.

Originally posted October 12, 2020

This is a recent paper on the iTIND device. It reflects our participation in the multicenter international study on the use of this device for the treatment of BPH.

It is a minimally invasive new option for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms that respects sexual and ejaculatory function.

Originally posted July 30, 2020

This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Urological Association congress was celebrated online. This article was published, also electronically, in the congress newspaper. It was based in my participation in a session on urological problems of trasplanted patients, where I was going to speak on the treatment with Holmium laser of benign prostate hyperplasia in these patients.

Originally posted July 26, 2020

 This year the EAU congress was celebrated online, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

These are the papers presented to the congress with my participation and the original papers we published at ICUA. All this work has been possible due to the team effort at ICUA.

We are all struggling with the COVID-19 Pandemic. Scientific work is certainly going to suffer. We will keep trying to contribute!

Originally posted May 24, 2020

I was invited by the European Association of Urology to give a webinar on the minimally invasive treatment of BPH.

The webinar can be accessed following this link.