What does the prostate laser consist of?
The prostate laser is currently the most innovative and effective surgery for the treatment of benign prostate diseases. It consists in the application of a high intensity energy that reaches 400 degrees on the prostate tissue, through an instrument through the urethra. This causes these 400 degrees applied on the prostate to produce the vaporization of the tissue, that is to say, it is transformed into water vapor and residual ashes. When we apply the last technique we have, which is steam-resection of the prostate, we can obtain small pieces of prostate that allow us to analyze them in the future and have a biopsy of that material. This resection is like the conventional resection but with the laser, this means that all the complications that were produced by bleeding with the conventional treatment, when the resection is performed with the laser, there is less possibility of complications. The laser penetration is 2 millimeters, therefore, it avoids lesions in the neighboring organs and has a lower incidence, as we said before, of urine incontinence and also of bleeding.
For what diseases is the use of the prostate laser recommended?
At the prostate level, the laser is basically used in benign diseases. It allows the reduction of the size of the prostate and the internal emptying of the prostate, which improves urination. It is very important with the laser, not only to know which diseases can be treated with the laser but, above all, which patients can be treated. The laser can be used to treat patients who could not be operated on with conventional techniques, for example patients with coagulation problems, patients with severe respiratory and cardiac problems or patients who, because of religious beliefs, do not accept blood transfusions. All these patients can now be effectively treated for benign prostate diseases with the laser.
Other diseases that can be treated from the point of view of urology, if the narrowing of the urethra can be sectioned – cut – with the fiber of the front laser and replace the cold knife with which they are made in the conventional way, in some patients we can treat bladder tumors with the laser, for example in patients with serious alterations of coagulation in which the section, the cut, with the electric loop cannot be applied.
What are the advantages of surgical treatment with the prostate laser?
Basically the advantages consist of lower incidence of complications, lower incidence of bleeding, in fact when we perform a laser we do not have to make a blood reserve, as we do when conventional surgery is performed, recovery is much faster, the patient recovers much faster in their daily activities is much faster and all the symptoms related to the operation are less than with conventional surgery.