Originally posted April 20, 2015

This time I left Madrid with Dr. Romero on Sunday night to be able to start early the following morning at the IRCAD center at the campus of the faculty of medicine of the university of Strasbourg. The objective was to lear all the subtleties of the Da Vinci Xi Robotic system.

There we spent all the day training with the Robot and learning all the mechanisms and the behavior of this new generation of the Da Vinci Robot. We simulated different situations in order to be ready for any unexpected surgical situation we might encounter in the future with the robot in real life.

The IRCAD is an impressive training center and the course was wonderful.

I feel very privileged to be able to work in the best conditions and to be able to offer the best technology to our patients for the treatment of urological cancer.

Originally posted April 18, 2015

I have dreamt for many years to have the opportunity to work with a Da Vinci surgical robot. At last it arrived at our hospital and we are going to be able to offer robotic surgery to our patients.

This robot is a true technological wonder. It seems so strange that only 15 years ago we were performing open surgery in urology and that now we can operate in a minimally invasive fashion with this sophisticated instrument.

What we really care about at ICUA and at Clínica CEMTRO is to do our work very well, to reach excellence in what we do, in the benefit of our patients. That is why we have prepared a very well structured robotic surgery program, with the active participation of anesthesists, nurses, hospital personnel and our team of surgeons to carry out a fantastic team work. It has been so emotive for me to see the amount of will the staff at Clinica CEMTRO is putting in the launch of the robotic program.

We have the great privilege to have worked and learnt with Dr. Richard Gaston during the last 7 years. Dr. Gaston works in Bordeaux, France and is a world reference in laparoscopic and robotic surgery.

With the acquisition of the new Da Vinci Xi system we have managed to bring him onboard exclusively in Spain as a team member. He will come to operate with us every month and he will have his clinics at Clinica CEMTRO and combine this activity with his work at Bordeaux.

We believe that summing up the experience of Dr. Gaston in robotic radical prostatectomy with our experience in lasers in the treatment of BPH is going to let us work at the highest level in urology in the treatment of prostate disease.

Originally posted April 11, 2015

This time I was invited to perform a live surgical demonstration at the III UROLIVE course that was broadcasted to the main auditorium of the Hospital Clínico Universitario San Carlos in Madrid.

This was the third edition of this meeting and there were 4 surgeons invited, two of us work at ICUA- Clínica CEMTRO.

Dr. Richard Gastón, from Bordeaux, France and a team member at ICUA-Clínica CEMTRO in Madrid, performed a radical prostatectomy with the Da Vinci Xi robot, assisted by our colleague Dr. Estefanía Romero.

Dr. Gaston is considered one of the best robotic surgeons in the world and has been awarded many times by multiple international urological associations for his work. This time he showed a new technique for full preservation of the pubovesical ligament and neurovascular bundles with a lateral access that allows for urinary continence and erectile function preservation with a high success rate.

Dr. Gastón announced during the course that the colaboración that we have had for the last 7 years is now strengthened with the purchase of a new Xi Da Vinci system at ICUA- Clínica CEMTRO in Madrid, where we will continue working together, now using the most advanced robotic technology available.

My role in the course was to perform a live surgical procedure that was also transmitted to the main auditorium. I performed my technique, and en bloc enucleation with the green light laser in a patient with a big prostate gland, that went very well.

In summary, a fantastic course with the participation of more that 240 urologists from Spain where we could demonstrate the quality of the job we make at ICUA- Clínica CEMTRO in prostate disease.

We now become one of the leading centers in the world in prostate disease diagnosis and treatment with the combined experience of Dr. Gaston in prostate cancer surgery and myself on the minimally invasive treatment of BPH.

Originally posted April 9, 2015

This time I flew to Barcelona to operate with Dr. Batista at the prestigious Clínica TEKNON. He had prepared two patients for surgery.

I performed a Green laser en-bloc enucleation in the first patient, who had a big prostate gland and an anatomic vaporization in the second patient, and then returned to Madrid. Everything went very well.

Originally posted March 29, 2015

This time I went to Sofia to give a training course to 8 French Urologists, who came to visit our surgical room and participate in two days of intensive surgery.

The session went very well and I could show them the easy and difficult cases, with small and bigger prostates. A very interesting session.

Originally posted March 26, 2015

Today I flew to Paris to give the opening lecture of the IV Congress of French-Belgium GreenLight laser users.

There was a welcoming cocktail and there I could see many friends as Dr. Vincent Misrai, who is now the leader in France in GreenLight laser enucleation.

I was honored to give the congress' opening lecture during the welcome dinner.

Then I went to sleep early as the following day I had to depart very early to Sofia, for another course.

Originally posted March 25, 2015

Today we received many visitors at Clínica CEMTRO to see the operations with the GreenLight laser that we had programmed.

We hosted Dr. José Santamaría from the Hospital Clínico de Valencia, Dr. Cimadevila from the C.H.U at Santiago de Compostela, Dr. Luis Álvarez Castelo from the CHUAC, Dr. Carlos Vallejo from H. de Hospitalet, Dr. María José Ledo and Dr. Jesús Rosety from Hospital Puerta del Mar from Cádiz. We also had visitors from France, Dr. Charles Ballereau, Dr. Philippe Koenig and Dr. Olivier Montaigne.

We also received the visit of Dr. Rafael Castellanos, from Medellín, Colombia, a partner of our great friend David Rendón, who worked with us and now lives and works in Colombia.

All the operations went very well.

Originally posted March 23, 2015

This year we hosted the EAU congress in Madrid.

I was invited to participate in two observed advanced techniques practical observation courses with the GreenLight laser simulator and I had to perform a live surgical procedure that had to be transmitted to the audience in the congress.

This was the scheduled live surgical session.

Unfortunately, the program run late and the operation could not be transmitted live. Well after the session ended, I stayed at Hospital Universitario Clínico San Carlos to perform the operation that went very well.

This time I flew to Alicante to participate the following day in a surgical training session at the General University Hospital of Elche.

I firs did a presentation of the physics of lasers and techniques to the department staff and then we went to the operating room to perform three operations.

Again I could see how the Hospital Urologists valued positively the use of GreenLight with the new techniques I described.

Nice photo isn't it? Then I returned to Madrid in the high speed train.

Originally posted March 9, 2015

On May 12th this year we will celebrate at Clinica CEMTRO a live surgery course on the last techniques and news on BPH treatment with the GreenLight laser.

We tried to put together a fresh and original program, full of live surgical cases and brief talks that can illustrate the attendees on the different aspects of this wonderful modality of treatment of BPH.

Please contact your AMS representative if you want to join us!

Originally posted March 4, 2015

This time I travelled to Reggio Emilia in Italy to participate in the first Italian Expert Meeting on GreenLight Laser.

I was invited to perform an operation with the En Bloc enucleation technique that was broadcasted to the main auditorium at the Hospital in Reggio Emilia.

The operation went very well and after the operation we weighted 110 grams of tissue obtained during the operation. The technique was very well received. During the last two years I have travelled to Italy to train and help many urologists throughout the country, more than 20 times. Many of the attendees are already good friends.

After the surgical session we had very interesting debate sessions. Finally I returned to Madrid that same day.

Originally posted February 28, 2015

This weekend I operated at Hill Clinic in Sofia, Bulgaria and we received the visit of Dr. Bertrand Lukacs, from Hospital Tenon in Paris and Dr. Andy Thomas, from ABM university NHS trust in Wales, United Kingdom. They were very interested in learning the Green Laser En Bloc Enucleation of the prostate technique.

We shared two days of surgical procedures and I was able to share all the details of this technique. They both returned happy and impressed by the quality of the team work we carry out at Hill Clinic in Sofia.

Originally posted February 25, 2015

Again we received the visit of various urologists to our surgical room at Clinica CEMTRO, to witness the new techniques to operate benign prostate hyperplasia with the GreenLight laser.

This time we received the visit of Dr. Serafín Novas, from the Hospital de Santiago de Compostela, Dr. Antonio Jalón, from the Hospital Central de Asturias, Dr. Ana Soto, from the Hospital de Castellón and Dr. Cambronero, from the Hospital Infanta Leonor in Madrid.

Realizamos cuatro intervenciones que transcurrieron fenomenal. Siempre pedimos a los visitantes que firmen en nuestro libro de visitas.

Originally posted February 20, 2015

This time I went to Linz in Austria to help Dr. Sommerhuber with his first steps with the GreenLight En bloc Enucleation of the prostate technique.

Linz is a small Austrian city with a beautiful cathedral. 

We went to the Hospital in Linz, they had programmed five patients in two days. The hospital has a very active urology department, that participates in many international research projects. The first day I performed the first operation in a patient with a huge prostate gland, then Dr. Sommerhuber did the rest of the operations with my hall. It all went well and he had no major difficulty with the learning process. I believe this technique can be taught and learned by surgeons without major difficulties.

Dr. Luebke, from Germany, joined us during the session. He had already been visiting us in one of the training sessions in Sofia, Bulgaria. He also wants to learn the technique and he felt that it was a great experience to witness the difficulties Dr. Sommerhuber faced and he thought it was a very good experience that would help him with his own learning process.

Originally posted February 15, 2015

This time I had to travel far, to Boston, where there was a winter storm with terribly low temperatures, to help Dr. Shahin Tabatabaei, associate professor at MGH - Harvard University, to polish his technique of GreenLight En bloc enucleation of the prostate. He already came to visit me in Bulgaria and saw many cases and had initiated the technique on his own, but wanted to improve and learn some tips and tricks.

We spent the first day at the operating room, we did two very difficult cases of patients with large glands that took their time. The rest of the surgeries were cancelled because the city was blocked by the snow.

Both cases went very well and Dr. Tabatabaei was able to extract a huge adenoma from one of the patients.

The second day I participated in a training session for residents and urologists of the hospital with Dr. Tabatabaei.

We first gave two short talks on the principles of laser surgery and then we worked with the residents with the surgical simulators and studied the surgical instruments necessary for this technique.

The following day I gave a talk at the department Grand Rounds session to present the En Bloc Green Laser Enucleation technique. It was very interesting and we had the honor of receiving the visit of Lori Lerner, famous for her dedication to Holmium laser enucleation, who added her experience to a very intense and interesting discussion. The urologists from MGH thought this is a very interesting new avenue for the treatment of BPH and Dr. Tabatabaei is going to continue to perform it and I hope we can participate together in a multi center international study that is going to start soon.

The last day of my stay in Boston we went back to the operating room for another surgical session, that also went very well. Dr. Tabatabaei chose very complex cases and we spent the day operating.

I got this diploma as a reminder of my stay in Boston. It has been a great honor for me to share with my colleagues in Boston and to collaborate once again with my friend. Dr. Tabatabaei.

Finally I returned to Madrid, despite the weather getting worse, I managed to take off just in time to celebrate my birthday (I am now 47!).

The following day they cancelled 1800 flights in the northeast of USA, due to the intense cold.