ST. MARYS, Georgia: Feb.14, 2012 – The Southeast Georgia Health System
Camden Campus Surgical Services Department team performed the facility’s
first-ever urology laser procedure—a Greenlight potassium-titanyl-phosphate
(KTP) Laser Photo Vaporization of the Prostate—on Friday, Jan. 6.
Joseph Lanzone, M.D., a board-certified urologist at the Health System,
performed the surgery.
“Patients experience much better outcomes with the Greenlight Laser
procedure over traditional treatments,” says Lanzone, who is now
performing the laser procedure regularly at the Camden Campus. “Offering
this advanced treatment at the Health System’s Camden Campus hospital
is a big plus for people in Camden and Nassau counties. They no longer
need to travel out of the area for this type of treatment.”
This laser treatment of the prostate is a minimally invasive surgical technique
for treating Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), or enlargement of the
prostate. Greenlight HPS utilizes a specially designed laser light source
and fiber optic delivery system. The procedure combines the immediate
symptom relief and the dramatic flow rate improvements of the current
“gold standard” procedure (called TURP or Trans-Urethral Resection
of the Prostate) with minimal side effects, fast operative and recovery
times, and usually no need for a catheter after surgery.
“This was the first time a laser procedure was performed at our hospital,
so this is a big milestone for our team,” says Glenda Attivissimo,
R.N., nurse manager, Surgical Services, Camden Campus. “This procedure
is better for the patients and doesn’t require a long hospital stay.”
According to Troy Thurmond, R.N., BSN, director, Surgical Services for
the Health System, the laser equipment requires special electrical infrastructure,
equipment and, of course, staff trained in the use of the equipment. Committed
to its vision to be the health care provider of choice, the Health System
made the necessary investments to use the Greenlight laser. “Now
our patients can have laser procedures performed locally without having
to travel away from home,” said Thurmond.
Attivissimo says the patient undergoing the procedure had a positive outcome
and was able to go home afterward. “He (patient) did very well and
we already have more laser procedures scheduled,” she says. “Offering
this new service to our patients is concrete, tangible proof of us working
to fulfill our Health System's vision and goals for the Camden Campus
Surgical Services Department. We provide quality care, close to home.”