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Laser zaps hospital costsPHfL HOSSACK/WINNtPEG FREE PRESSFibre-optic cable and video monitors are key to new laser technique for treating enlargement of the prostate gland.Inside StoryProstate trial boon for patients, doctorsBy Alexandra PaulMedical ReporterWINNIPEG’S CONCORDIA Hospital has become the first in Canada to use laser treatment for prostate surgery—a trial that could drastically cut costs and boost the hospital’s bid to become a Canadian centre of excellence in urology,The one-week trial that ended Friday saw 35 patients with benign prostate growths treated with lasers at half the cost of the conventional procedure.Laser surgery also reduces pain for patients and nearly eliminates surgical complications, such as profuse bleeding and shock.“In Manitoba, next to cataract surgery, (benign prostate surgery) is the most common operation that is done, said Dr. Henry Krahn, who headed the laser trial.Manitoba Health statistics show that doctors did 943 conventional rostate operations in 1993-94 at 487.30 per operation. Up to one-third of men over age 65 experience problems with enlarged prostates, About 10,000 men in Manitoba are estimated to suffer at any given time with blocked bladders as a result of the enlargement.This week’s trial was the largest conducted at a single institution in North America.The savings from switching to lasers for an estimated 75 per cent of surgeries are enormous, Krahnsaid. The treatment does not cure prostate cancer.■ Surgery, StarWars-style / A5“I’m all for this. We’re so short of beds and this is going to reduce the stay from five days to overnight maximum,” said Dr, Henry Dirks,Concordia’s chief of staff.Concordia is the only hospital in Manitoba with a special ultrasoundmachine, which acts as a visual backup to the video screen used in the laser siirgery.If private donations are raised to cover the $150,000 US needed to buy the technology, Manitoba's 14 urologists — led by Krahn and Dirks — will likely lobby the province for disposable fibre-optic probes used in each case.The cost per probe is $695 US —about the same as one night’s stay in a Winnipeg teaching hospital.“If the government can see its way on giving us a little extra on the operating cost, the saving will be in the hospital stay, because apart from the hotel costs of the hospital — the feeding and watering —they’ll save on the antibiotics and fluids, Krahn said,It would be about half of what itwould be for the cost of (the standard procedure).”Deputy health minister Frank Maynard said he will meet with Concordia executives next week about acquiring the technology.“Certainly we encourage any advancement that would see improvements to the patient in terms of reduced lengths of stay and inconvenience,” he said.
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Sun, Sep 18, 1994
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Jay F.
CA 28 Jul 2020
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