A pioneering medical laser procedure that helps to ease the symptoms of an enlarged prostate has been carried out at the Belmont Clinic.

The first Laser Trans-urethral Resection for the Prostate (Laser TURP) procedure took place on Friday, may 6 by a medical team led by urologist Dr Dwayne Thwaites.

The surgery is believed to have been done for the first time in Antigua & Barbuda, the OECS and possibly the Caribbean.

Chairman of Belmont Clinic Dr Eumel Samuel explained the procedure.

“Basically, it is to relieve the volume of the prostate that is compressing the testicular urethra so that the patient can be comfortable with the passage of urine and would not have the symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate. most patients can head out of that operating room for home within 24 hours,” he said.

Samuel and several other medical practitioners witnessed the procedure including Dr José Humphreys, Dr Rasheda Williams and Dr Olobukola Ogumbiyi; and nursing personnel Charma Tonge, Rosemary Beazer, Bobsey George and Alison James.

Trans-urethral resection of the prostate or TURP is a highly effective and modern urological operation used to treat Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH) or enlarged prostate. the procedure involves the insertion of a triple lumen catheter through the urethra to irrigate and drain the bladder while a laser is used to remove parts of the prostate to ease urinary flow.

A Laser Lithotripsy procedure for bladder stones was carried out on the same patient successfully. Lithotripsy is the use of high-energy shock waves to fragment and disintegrate kidney stones.

Belmont Clinic ltd is a premier medical facility in the Caribbean comprising of a medical and surgical inpatient division, pharmacy, radiological and diagnostic department, outpatient clinics including Integrative Medicine Departments and two state of the art surgical suites.

(More in today’s Daily OBSERVER)

More than 1,110 people have died in Haiti from cholera as of Friday, since it first broke out in October. Another 18,000 people have become sick because of the intestinal disease that causes severe diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Cholera is easily treated but can be fatal if not detected early.

“I am alarmed at the rapid spread of cholera in Haiti and the lack of capacity and supplies to properly prevent and treat this life-threatening disease,” said Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the relief and development organization Samaritan’s Purse.

Samaritan’s Purse has 295 staff working in Haiti who have treated more than 2,000 cholera patients at the organization’s two treatment facilities.

Graham noted that his group’s assessments lead him to believe that the number of cholera deaths is “significantly understated.” he urged the U.S. military to begin emergency airlifts to provide needed supplies to treat cholera, and for Haitian authorities to expedite customs clearance process to allow relief supplies into the country.

Joining Samaritan’s Purse medical team in Haiti Saturday is a seven-member doctor and nurse team from HCJB Global Hands in Quito, Ecuador. The medical team brings about 500 pounds of medicines to reinforce the cholera response by Samaritan’s Purse. Cholera can be treated with oral hydration salts.

 “I call on the churches of America to pray this Thanksgiving for the people of Haiti, our neighbors just a few hundred miles from our own shore, who have suffered so much this year,” Graham said. “out of the abundance that we have been given, we should share with those who have so very little.”

The World Health Organization said Friday Haiti’s cholera outbreak will inevitably spread to the Dominican Republic. however, it does not expect the disease to be as widespread given the Dominican Republic’s better sanitary conditions.

A medical team from Maine got home early Thursday after a grueling – and harrowing – trip to Haiti.

The five-member team from the Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency in Augusta spent three long days trying to save cholera victims in Cap Haitien, then had to get out of the city through violent street demonstrations and roadblocks.

“every roadblock we passed, there were crowds of people with Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency machetes and sticks running at us,” said Dr. Chiedza Jokonya of Cape Elizabeth, a pediatrician and faculty member who led the medical mission.

Jokonya’s team included Nina Miller, another faculty member, and three primary care residents – Suhas Pinnaka, Prativa Basnet and Lalaine Llanto.

Twice a year, Jokonya leads a weeklong medical mission to Haiti’s capital city, Port-Au-Prince. this time, the United Nations asked the team to go north to Cap Haitien, where the cholera epidemic was overwhelming medical personnel. the team agreed.

“they desperately needed help up north,” said Jokonya.

As of early this week, the cholera outbreak had killed 1,034 people in Haiti and hospitalized 16,799, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

When they arrived in Cap Haitien, Jokonya said, the situation was chaotic. everyone was getting IVs, whether they needed them or not, and supplies were limited.

“We spent a day just organizing triage,” Jokonya said.

Then she and the residents worked day and night, sometimes using flashlights, to treat cholera patients, some of whom arrived so dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea that they could not be saved.

“the residents worked 72 hours straight with maybe a couple hours of sleep. all of them had patients dying on them,” she said. “We couldn’t stop. if we stopped, there was nobody to see the patients.”

The people at the hospital were grateful for the help, she said. But anger in the city’s streets made it difficult to leave.

“On the third day, when the U.N. was supposed to pick us up, that’s when the violence erupted,” she said.

Street demonstrations began in Cap Haitien on Monday over suspicions that the cholera was brought to Haiti by U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal. Protesters threw rocks, blocked roads and set fires, forcing the airport to be closed.

The protests spread to Haiti’s capital Thursday as protesters blocked roads and attacked foreigners’ cars.

Jokonya’s team left the city Tuesday by truck after recruiting local men to provide security. they passed seven roadblocks, where they had to stop and move logs and, in one case, move a parked truck.

“We were stuck between groups of people,” she said. “There were fires along the way.”

When demonstrators threw stones or approached the truck, the local men got out and “talked them down,” she said.

The team drove three hours to Gonaives, where the U.S. Embassy arranged to take them to Port-Au-Prince, she said. they arrived in Boston late Wednesday and got home early Thursday.

“I don’t know what they are going to do if the (cholera) numbers increase,” Jokonya said. “I sent out appeals to groups of doctors to come and take our place, but because of the violence, I don’t think it will happen. this is the most frightening situation I have ever been in in my life.”

Jim Schneid, Maine-Dartmouth’s chairman, said the medical residency was glad to get the team home.

“We were all concerned for their safety when they were involved in the unrest,” he said. “they all knew there was a cholera risk when they went down last week, and they all had the option when asked by the United Nations to not participate. I’m very proud of the group.”

While the Maine-Dartmouth team was getting home, Nathan Nickerson of Portland was trying to find a way to get back to Cap Haitien.

The executive director of the Portland-based nonprofit Konbit Sante Cap Haitien Health Partnership was in Florida on Thursday, monitoring the security situation and hoping to fly to Cap Haitien as soon as today.

Nickerson, who was in Haiti just two weeks ago, hopes to help distribute medical supplies and water disinfection kits. But he said from Florida late Thursday that it wasn’t clear whether security had been restored enough to reopen Cap Haitien’s airport.

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

irishtimes.com – Last Updated: Friday, January 21, 2011, 13:09

Rugby: The injury concerns continue to mount for Ireland coach Declan Kidney with the news that the Ospreys wing Tommy Bowe has been ruled out of tomorrow’s match against Toulon with an as yet unspecified knee problem.

Kidney has already lost Rob Kearney and Geordan Murphy from his back three for the Six Nations with long-term injuries while Luke Fitzgerald has only just returned to action following a lengthy lay-off of his own.

The potential absence of Bowe, who had been touted as a possible option at fullback, would merely serve to compound matters for Kidney and his management team.

The Ospreys have yet to confirm the exact nature of Bowe’s injury with their medical team due to carry out further tests in the coming days.

“We’ve withdrawn Tommy from this weekend’s game on medical grounds, pending further investigation and specialist opinion for a knee problem,” explained physio Chris Towers.

“Due to the onset of some recent symptoms we scanned him this week, which highlighted an issue that could potentially develop into something problematic. as such, we felt that it is in Tommy’s best interest to take these precautions.

“We have notified the Irish medical team, and following further investigations next week we should be able to establish the most appropriate course of treatment for the problem, and to confirm whether it will interfere with Tommy’s involvement in the Six Nations with Ireland.”

Ireland are due to open their Six Nations campaign against Italy in Rome February 5th.