Urology, nephrology and andrology in Spain
Hospital Clínic Barcelona recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first renal transplant performed in Spain by the team of Professor Gil-Vernet. Since then, over 4,000 kidney transplants have been performed, 800 from live donors, and a quarter using the Da Vinci robotic system. A combined transplant, when several organs are transplanted at the same time, was performed in 455 cases. Today, Hospital Clínic performs one out of every four live donor kidney transplants with the assistance of the Da Vinci Xi robotic system.
The rapid incorporation of innovative techniques paired with the highest degree of scientific evidence, comprehensive care and treatment result in the best outcomes, with the highest quality and efficiency indicators, all of which has made the Hospital Clínic Barcelona one of the leading kidney transplant centers in the world.
The urology services at Hospital Clínic and Hospital Quirón in Barcelona specialize in:
- urological oncological neoplasms: therapeutic and surgical methods of treatment
- urological surgery, with many outpatient surgery techniques
- functional urology benign prostatic hyperplasia
- andrology
- local surgery: no-scalpel vasectomy (through a puncture), phimosis surgery, frenuloplasty
- andrological surgery
- laparoscopic surgery
- laparoscopic placement of peritoneal dialysis catheters
- urological oncoplastic surgery
One of the greatest experts in kidney transplants works at Hospital Clínic Barcelona: Professor Antonio Alcaraz. He performed the first nephrectomy (removal of the kidney) in 2007 and in 2015 performed the world’s first complete transplant, a technique that consists of removing the donor organ through the vagina and transplanting it using the same approach.
He has performed over 500 operations a year over the past 25 years. The five-year survival rate for patients with a living-donor transplant performed by Dr. Alcaraz is greater than 94%. His career and results have made him one of the most famous transplant surgeons in the world and he has been a prominent lecturer at the European Congress of urology on a number of occasions, broadcasting an operation live for an audience of three thousand urologists.
Andrologist Dr. Eduard García Cruz, specialist at Hospital Clínic’s urology service, is one of the leading experts in erectile dysfunction, testosterone deficiency syndrome, sexual medicine, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and new experimental surgical techniques in urology.
Enormous successes in kidney and prostate surgery have been achieved at the Hospital Quirón Barcelona by Dr. Miguel-Angel López Costea and his team; under his leadership a new prostate biopsy technique using magnetic resonance and integrated ultrasound was introduced for the first time in Spain. This method of biopsy (through the perineum) ensures better access to the gland than any other technique and minimizes complications.
