There’s a new, minimally invasive surgical option at Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) to assist men experiencing symptoms of an enlarged prostate. The hospital has announced the introduction of the ThuLEP, thulium Laser Enucleation of the prostate. According to the hospital, it’s a significant advancement over traditional surgical approaches such as Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP), green light laser, and open/simple prostatectomy. The new procedure is considered a state-of-the-art procedure and offers improved patient outcomes, reduced hospital stays, shorter catheterization times, and enhanced surgical efficiency. Dr. Haider Abed is a urologist at Windsor Regional Hospital. He did specialized training for one year and started the program with a colleague at Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill. Dr. Abed says this is new technology for Windsor and Windsor is only third healthcare centre in Ontario to do the procedure. “Here I was able to start the program last month, and even in the last month, yesterday I just did my 16th case, and I already started seeing some of my patients back for their follow-ups since their original surgery and they’ve been doing fantastic,” says Dr. Abed. “Every single person has been completely catheter-free, and a lot of them had come in with catheters for up to a year.” He says more than 50 ThuLEP cases are expected in the first year at Windsor Regional Hospital. “It’s been one month, and I’ve already done 16,” he says. “I already have at this point a waitlist from both internal referrals here at our system, as well as I’ve got referrals from London and Hamilton, and I already have around 30 patients who are hoping to get this procedure done.” Dr. Abed says in the past, patients were offered a referral to Toronto. “Which, for a lot of our especially our older patients, is just not a viable option to be able to go there, make the drive, stay in hospital, stay for a bit there, and come back, and if you run into any problems, it’s very challenging because your surgeon is four hours away,” says Dr. Abed. WRH says benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a highly prevalent condition among aging men that creates a significant demand for urological services. Dr. Abed says a normal size prostate is 15 grams. He says he’s seen enlarged prostates between 50 and 300 grams and says the larger the prostate, the more blockage there is. Men who are dealing with an enlarged prostate and experiencing symptoms—such as a weak stream, waking up at night to pee, frequent voiding, or relying on a catheter they cannot get rid of—would qualify for this procedure.
