Green Light Laser Treats Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

The GreenLEP procedure involves enucleating the tissue with minimal bleeding, rather than vaporizing it, and then morcellating it. The GreenLEP set consists of a resectoscope, a special morce-scope, and a tissue morcellator, which suctions the enucleated tissue in the bladder, before shredding and extracting tissue pieces into a collection container, where the tissue chips can undergo subsequent histological examination. The photoselective vaporization technique with the GreenLight laser has shown excellent intraoperative safety even for patients taking anticoagulants. In direct ablation of tissue, the system achieves functional results comparable with the gold standard for treating benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), trans-urethral resection of the prostate (TURP).

The components of the system are intercompatible with other products in the range, and can also be used with video systems from other manufacturers. The three application instruments developed specifically for the GreenLight fiber can be optimized for the individual operating technique of the surgeon. Optimum irrigation conditions with 50% inlet and 50% outlet, and laser guidance without vibration are available in each instrument, allowing the retraction of the fiber into the sheath and preventing possible destruction of the telescope and protective sheath. The GreenLight Laser and the proprietary application instruments are products of Richard Wolf (Knittlingen, Germany).

"Vaporization of the prostate using the GreenLight Laser has become a standard treatment in many hospitals. I felt that although vaporization could be used to treat large adenomas, too many fibers were required,” said urologist Fernando Gómez Sancha, M.D., of the Instituto de Cirugía Urológica Avanzada (ICUA; Madrid, Spain), who developed the new procedure. "This entailed longer surgical times and higher costs, and the results of alternative therapies, such as treatment with the HoLEP Laser were still difficult to achieve. Enucleation using the GreenLight Laser permitted complete treatment of adenomatous tissue.”

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