Trip to Uruguay

Again I travelled to Montevideo, invited by Dr. Daniel Porto and Dr. Javier Zeballos to participate in a meeting on Greenlight Laser Prostatectomy. This meeting was celebrated due to the interest generated by Greenlight laser enucleation of the prostate, and we had colleagues coming from Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela.

The first day we went to Hospital Maciel, a public Hospital in Montevideo. First I did a prostatic vaporization that was transmitted to the Hospital's meeting room.

Then I gave a talk on the different aspects of laser prostatectomy. It was a great pleasure to meet old friends like Dr. Dario Soto, or Dr. Gustavo Pico.

Then we were interviewed by several radio stations and the TV channel Canal 4. This was the first time that a Greenlight procedure was performed in a public hospital in Uruguay.

Later on that day I performed an endoscopic lithotripsy followed by a GreenLEP (Greenlight Laser Enucleation of the Prostate) procedure on a patient who had bladder stones and a 190 g prostate. Despite the complexity of the case I managed to complete the procedure successfully, I enucleated the adenoma in two pieces and carried out the morcellation of the tissue under a fantastic view. Everyone was impressed by the surgical result and the elegance of the technique.

Then we all went out for dinner and we tried the delicious uruguayan meat, although I was under the effect of the jet lag...

The following day we continued in the Hospital Británico, where Dr. Porto and Dr. Zeballos, who are wonderful organisers had prepared a room for the attendees to see the transmission of the operations and where they could ask questions.

I did 4 operations throughout the day, in patients with 40, 100, 120 and 140 grams. The three enucleations were successful and all patients had clear urine at the end of the procedure, and all the catheters were pulled out the next morning, and all the patients were sent home.

We took the opportunity and the fact that there were Greenlight users from several iberoamerican countries to create the "Grupo Iberoamericano de Láser en Urología, GRILUR" where all urologists are invited to join. We decided to meet next year in Buenos Aires, and Dr. Edgardo Becher offered himself to organise next year's meeting. In the photo, signing the foundational documents, with Dr. Zeballos.

We all went home happy with the experience. I am convinced that GreenLEP (Greenlight Laser Enucleation of the prostate) is a step forward in the treatment of high volume BPH. The GreenLight wavelength is optimal for this procedure due to the fantastic haemostasis and versatility. We manage to remove the whole adenoma in 60-90 minutes, we get tissue for histology and patients can go home without a catheter the next morning. The patient we operated last had a catheter only for 12 hours, an unseen tolerance for an enucleative procedure.

Finally I went back to Madrid, very happy after this trip. Dr. Porto and Dr. Zeballos are awesome urologists and very remarkable people, I had a great time with them.