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E.O.E Newsletter | www.huanet.gr
Finally, the N-pouch was developed in an effort to decrease the long surgical time, which was associated with the Studer and Hautmann neobladders that we performed at that time. The N-pouch was for me a really good compromise between all these different techniques. In the end we were able to do a cystoprostatectomy and lymphadenectomy with bladder replacement in three hours using the N-pouch as a routine. We have published and presented this technique performed on a large number of patients and I’m happy to see that other colleagues have adapted it, as well.
T.S.: Itbecomesclearthatyourtechniquesare reproduced by others? How do you feel about that? H.vP.: Well, it is great to see your name written in Chinese (laughs). You don’t even know that this is your name. Honestly, knowing that your name is recognized at the other side of the word, at very remote places, gives you a good feeling. Although my techniques represent only small bits of progress, it’s still progress and I’m very proud of it!
T.S.: You have performed countless major oncological surgeries for kidney, bladder, prostate, testis and penile cancer. In your opinion, what are the character traits of a good surgeon?
H.vP.: A good surgeon is calm, has a good mood, is rigorous, does not allow any complications. He is friendly with his residents and never shouts, not even on the scrub nurse or the other nurses that are in the OR, even when problems arise, for instance if something goes wrong in a delicate vena cava surgery, which can be quite tricky, difficult and risky. They should stay calm and be boss of the team. When you get nervous and angry and you start shouting at your residents, these will not assist you in a proper way. I cannot remember ever shouting in the OR. But many surgeons shout in the OR and it’s always “someone else’s fault”. No no no! It has much more to do with the state of mind, and next to that, obviously there is the surgical skill. I think the good surgeon is able to lead a team of people, who are less or more qualified. I had a friend who said that he could never become a surgeon because he didn’t have the skills of doing so. I was with him in medical school and we were doing General Surgery, when an emergency arrived. I saw him suturing a wound and I can tell you that he didn’t have surgical skills. He has become an
internist and afterwards a superb nuclear physicist. So, I am convinced that there should be some initial skills as a surgeon. Maybe you can look back on what they did when they were kids. Did they play and construct things? Did they put things together? So, it’s a technical profession, when it comes to surgery at least.
T.S.: You have been a Board Member and Chairman of many Committees and Sections
of different urological and non-urological societies? How do you feel about that (being part and networking with different societies)? H.vP.: I have never fought to be appointed in a position. I have never pushed to become whatever. I have never asked to become an academic. I was asked to stay in the university hospital. I was asked to become Chair of the European Group on Sexual and Urological Disorders in Multiple Sclerosis (SUDIMS). I was proposed to be study coordinator or principal investigator of several studies and to become treasurer of the EORTC GU Group, to become a board member of the EORTC. Pierre Teillac, Secretary General of the EAU asked me whether I would be willing to become the Director of the European School of Urology (ESU) etc. So, I have never been pushing other people away in order to get a position. In the end getting a position and managing to function reasonably well, gives a lot of satisfaction. Being invited, and taking the chance, to take a position, for which you have not been educated is great. I was educated as a surgeon and not for positions about coordination and administration for instance, which have more to do with a state of mind. These incredible feelings are my reward and I am really grateful for the opportunities that I been offered so far!
T.S.: When did your involvement with the
EAU start?
H.vP.: I think after my trip around Europe in 1983- 84 which was, as I said, in London, Barcelona, Denmark, Germany and finally Rotterdam, where I got to know Fritz Schröder. He was, at that time, the leader of the East-West Program, because the East was lagging behind, as compared to Western Europe. Fritz went to organize educational courses over there. And invited me to be in his faculty. It was a European Board of Urology (EBU) initiative that later has been taken over by the EAU in the European School of Urology (ESU). This was my first contact with the EAU and I
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