Originally posted June 29, 2015

Again I travelled to Paris to participate in the congress "Challenges in Endourology" in Paris. The last two years I was invited to perform live surgery, but this time I was invited to give a talk at the plenary session on the treatment of BPH.

The talk will be available in webcast format in about a month at the congress website.

Originally posted June 26, 2015

We were performing a Da Vinci Xi Robotic session at Clinica CEMTRO in Madrid with Dr. Gaston when we received the visit of the prestigious Dr. Henry Woo, from Sydney, Australia.

It was a pleasure to demonstrate Dr. Woo the robotic radical prostatectomy with Dr. Gastón. He was very impressed with the quality of the work we do at Clínica CEMTRO.

Also during these dates we launched our new web on robotic surgery at www.icirugiarobotica.com and the new twitter acount for our robotic unit @UroRobotica, as well as the new corporate image of the joint work of ICUA and Clínica CEMTRO.

Visit our web if you want to see Dr. Gastón explaining the advantages of robotic surgery and the opinion of the patients!

Originally posted June 24, 2015

As usual, we received the visit at our operating room from Dr. Miguel Angel Alonso and Dr. Mario de Arriba Alonso, from the Hospital de León in Spain.

I performed several operations and was able to show the different techniques of anatomic vaporization and Green Laser enucleation of the prostate. They were very happy to have seen the new possibilities of the GreenLight laser in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Originally posted June 22, 2015

This time I went to Bulgaria invited to participate in an interview at the National Bulgarian TV. It was very difficult because the presentar spoke to me in Bulgarian and the translator did simultaneous translation both when I was asked and when I was answering. I tried to spread the message that men should visit the urologist and that this is the way to prevent the consequences of prostatic diseases. In my experience in Bulgaria, men there do not visit the urologist and they only consult when they have serious problems.

The interview can be viewed here: http://hillclinic.com/lechenieto-e-lesno-kogato-patsientat-dojde-navreme/

Originally posted June 19, 2015

This time I visited the Hospital Charité, at the University of Berlín, Campus Bejamin Franklin, to show Dr. John Buckendahl and Dr. Hannes Cash how to perform anatomic vaporization and GreenLight enucleation.

I did three operations, this time without the luxury of a morcellator, so we had to do TURP morcellation, which makes surgical procedures a little bit longer. But everything went very well.

They were excited to see the interphase between surgical capsule and adenoma, and I am sure they will end up learning this wonderful procedures.

Originally posted June 18, 2015

This time I travelled to Nuremberg, Germany, to participate in a mentoring session for Dr. Lubke in the GreenLEP (Green Laser Enucleation of the Prostate) technique.

For two days we operated together and Dr. Lubke was able to perform cases independently, and he did very well!

From Nuremberg I flew to Berlín, where I had to do a surgical demonstration the following day.

Originally posted June 4, 2015

This time I was invited to perform a surgical demonstration at Hopital Cochin in Paris. Everything went very well, I performed two operations in patients with relatively large glands (95 g and 155 g) that went very well.

Dr. Mikael Peyromaure, chief of the urology department from this hospital, was with me, he was very impressed by this technique of Green laser enucleation of the prostate.

Originally posted May 31, 2015

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.

Originally posted May 26, 2015

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.

Originally posted May 21, 2015

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.

Originally posted May 19, 2015

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.

Originally posted May 12, 2015

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.

Originally posted May 6, 2015

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!

Originally posted May 1, 2015

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!

Originally posted April 29, 2015

Again we run another surgical course at Clinica CEMTRO and we received the visit of three urologists from the Middle East, Dr. Robert Harraw, from the Sacre Cour Hospital and Dr. Zahn Aburjeily, from SDH, both from Lebanon. Dr. Mohamed El-Khouly, from Dubai, United Arab Emirates also joined us.

The session went very well and I could show them all the subtleties of the different techniques we apply for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia with the GreenLight Laser.

Originally posted April 25, 2015

This weekend I flew to Sofia, this time accompanied by Dr. Fernando Leao and Dr. Julio Araujo, from Guiânia, Brasil. They had spent some time with us in the training session at Clinica CEMTRO, but they took the opportunity to join me as well to Sofia, Bulgaria.

The objective was to participate in an advanced training session on GreenLEP -GreenLight Enucleation of the prostate at the Hill Clinic.

There they could witness many operations in patients with Benign Prostate Hyperplasia throughout the weekend.

In the photo, with Dr. Botsevski, urologist at the Hill Clinic in Sofia. Dr. Leao and Dr. Araujo insist that I go with them to Brasil to help them with their first cases in a couple of months time. I will be delighted to go!

Dr. Leao and Dr. Araujo were kind enough to share their impressions of the course.

Originally posted April 22, 2015

Today we received the visit at our operating room at Clinica CEMTRO of Dr. Serrate, from the Hospital Quirón in Barcelona, Dr. Jesús Fernández & Jorge Suarez from the Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Dr. Antonio José de Almeida Santos & Jose Luis Pedroso from the Hospital da Luz from Lisboa, Dr. Trovarelli, from the Casa di Cura Rugani in Siena, Italy and Dr. Fernando Leao & Julio Araujo, from Goiânia, Brasil.

We performed several operations, as always, showing the new techniques of anatomic vaporization, vapo-enucleation and en-bloc enucleation with the GreenLight laser system, that went very well. An international session where we spoke Portuguese, Italian and Spanish.

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.