MDHB prostate patients benefit from new technology
02/02/2010
| PN Hospital New Technology
Two prostate patients from MidCentral District Health Board region last week benefitted from a new revolutionary machine which sees prostate chips ‘minced’ or morcellated and removed using latest technology.
Photo shows some of the group involved in the first day of theatre with the new equipment, from left: Downs Distributors’ representative Kevin Holwill; theatre nurses Vicki Henricksen and Elsje Hart; theatre charge nurse Phillip Prujean, and urologist Christophe Chemasle.
Mr Christophe Chemasle and John Chrisp are the two surgeons at Palmerston North Hospital performing laser prostatectomies.
Laser prostatectomy was first developed in New Zealand and has advantages for the patient in a shorter stay, less bleeding and it can be performed regardless of the size of the prostate.
But morcellation of the prostate chips so they can be removed through the penis has been a problem internationally. The alternative is to withdraw the chips via an incision through the abdomen into the bladder, negating some of the advantages of the laser surgery.
MidCentral Health is the first hospital in New Zealand to use the latest German-made Richard Wolf tissue morcellator. Due to its speed and efficiency the new system has been called ‘Piranha’.
The previous MidCentral Health morcellator was unreliable and often required a patient to be opened up, which resulted in slower surgery and healing time for the patient, so a replacement was sought.
Urologist Christophe Chemasle remembered a French colleague of his in Paris using the latest equipment and how good it was, contacted him, and as they say ‘the rest is history’. MidCentral Health bought one through Wolf’s New Zealand suppliers Downs Distributors Limited.
The procedure still requires laser equipment to do the first step; the second step is to remove the prostate tissue floating in the bladder.
The machine also has a more secure, specially-designed tip to keep it from damaging the bladder wall, and thereby perforating it.
It is estimated that 50% of men over 50 years have prostate problems and only 10% are operated on.
With the confidence of being able to rely on the performance of this latest technology, it is expected the number of procedures able to be done in a day may be increased.
The first procedures were done by Mr Chemasle, and medical team including Phillip Prujean, Elsje Hart and Vicki Henricksen, supervised by Downs Distributors’ representative Kevin Holwill, and Ferdinand Lehnard a visiting technical expert from Australia.
Mr Chemasle said: “For me it is a great day.”
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