PVP (Photo-selective Vaporization of the Prostate) is performed with the KTP laser by Laserscope (Greenlight PVP). This laser treatment of the prostate is a new, minimally invasive surgical technique for treating Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), or enlargement of the prostate.
Greenlight PV utilizes a specially designed laser light source and fiber optic delivery system developed by Laserscope in concert with researchers from the Mayo Clinic and some other institutions around the world.
The PVP procedure
combines the immediate symptom relief and the dramatic flow rate improvements of
the current "gold standard" procedure (called TURP or Trans-Urethral Resection
of the Prostate) with minimal side effects, fast operative and recovery times,
and usually no need for a catheter after surgery.
No other BPH treatment option has been shown to clinically provide such dramatic
and immediate symptom relief while concurrently providing significant uroflow
results and minimal, if any, side-effects. The PVP technique is a fast,
outpatient treatment that will satisfy both the subjective (symptom relief) and
objective (uroflowometry results) outcomes of a successful BPH treatment. Other
minimally invasive BPH treatment options (such as TUMT, microwave, TUNA,
thermotherapy) require compromises to be made by the patient and/or the
physician. With PVP, there are no compromises, patient's symptoms are
drastically reduced and flow rates are significantly improved.
The PVP procedure is performed in an outpatient setting, typically a hospital or surgical center, with average operative times normally less then 60 minutes. The GreenLight PV surgical laser system, which is used to perform the KTP laser PVP treatment, delivers laser light pulses through a specially designed fiber optic delivery device that is inserted through a standard cystoscope. The light pulses are directed towards the prostate tissue. The laser quickly vaporizes and removes the prostatic obstruction without significant bleeding.
Once the procedure is completed, patients have immediate post-operative symptom relief and dramatic improvements in symptoms, urinary flow rates, and bladder emptying. Long-term follow-up data from a Mayo Clinic study indicate that these dramatic improvements have been durable for approximately a 5-year follow-up period.
Post-operative side effects, if any, have been minimal and transient. Patients usually feel well within several days of the procedure, but full recovery can take several weeks. Some blood in the urine is common during the recovery process. This is harmless, and rarely requires treatment. It is common to have decreased fluid with ejaculation after this or any prostate surgery, since the prostate is the gland which makes the fluid portion of the ejaculate. Changes in ejaculation are less with PVP than with TURP.
Because the PVP does not cause deep tissue damage and tissue is effectively removed, some patients are sent home without catheter insertion. Others are sent home with catheters that are removed within 24 hours after treatment.
Cardiac Investigations,
Surgery & Treatments
Some years ago Germanys top heart transplant surgeons had a vision. That vision
was simply to open and operate the best heart transplant facility in the
world.With this in mind they acquired a former Canadian forces hospital and
refitted it with the finest facilities and best heart monitoring equipment
available. After completion of the project a decision was taken not to offer
heart transplant surgery but instead to perform all other heart surgery &
investigations such as valve replacements and repairs, hole in the heart surgery
and heart bypasses.
| That facility is now the Heart
Institute, Lahr, Germany and performs over 2500 heart bypasses a year,
plus hundreds of other cardiac procedures. Working together with a specialist rehabilitation institute the Heart Institute offers some of the most comprehensive heart care available today. Their royal suite is frequently hosting VIP’s that go for tests and intensive surgery |