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ΣΥΝΕΝΤΕΥΞΗ
Tεύχος 35 | Mάιος - Ιούνιος 2025
Η ακόλουθη συνέντευξη πραγματοποιήθηκε μέσω Zoom. Απομαγνητοφώνηση & επιμέλεια κειμένου: Θεόδωρος Σπίνος, ειδικευόμενος Ουρολόγος & Φίλιππος Νικητάκης, μέλη συντακτικής ομάδας του Newsletter.
Theodoros Spinos (T.S.): How did you decide to become a urologist?
Professor Jens-Uwe Stolzenburg: This is a long story, because the truth is that I grew up in East Germany, and in order to study medicine, you had to go three years to the army. And I said: “I don't go three years”. The minimum was one and a half. So, I decided to go only one and a half to the army and consequently I didn't get a place to study medicine. I had to wait. And at this time, when I was waiting, I worked as a helping nurse in the same Urological department, of which I am the Chairman now. So, I started as a helping nurse, and this was the basis. My interest started at this time, and so I wanted to become urologist. That's the story.
Filippos Nikitakis (F.N.): What initially drew your attention to minimally-invasive surgery?
Professor Jens-Uwe Stolzenburg: Oh, that was a long time ago! You know, I was trained in open surgery, and then, as a resident, I had to go one year to surgery. Back at this time I chose a Department where they did a lot of minimally-invasive, including laparoscopic gallbladder and hernia repair surgery. So, I moved there, and half a year I exclusively did laparoscopy. So, this was like a “waking up” for me. I immediately saw the advantages. And then I came back to my professor and said: “We have to do it !” And he was very wise. He said to me: “Okay, if you want to do it, if you can do it, do it.” I started in 2001, when I performed the first laparoscopic prostatectomy, influenced by my time when I was a resident in the surgical department. I just started, and we instantly saw the advantages!.
F.N.: Do you believe that residents should be still trained in open surgery?
Professor Jens-Uwe Stolzenburg: If you can have training in open surgery? Of course, it helps. Definitely it helps! But on the other hand, the basis for everything, for understanding what we are doing, is the anatomy. So, you have to know the anatomy. And in my point
of view, it doesn't matter if you go laparoscopically, or if you go open. The understanding of the tissues, the organs and their relationships, is actually what makes a good surgeon. So, I wouldn't ask this question. The question is: “Do we have the chance to train trainees in open surgery?” In my Department, we do 95% of all major surgery robotically. So, there's no space for open training (only for small operations), but on the other hand, as I said, if you start to operate more and more, you develop understanding for the anatomy and for the tissue. And then it doesn't matter if you take this instrument or the other. You know, just train to use the instruments and then the rest is anatomy!
T.S.: Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy is a very demanding operation which normally takes around 2-3 hours in even experienced hands. How did you manage to perform the procedure in less than an hour?
Professor Jens-Uwe Stolzenburg: Yeah, first of all, I would like to make clear that speed is not a criterion for quality. So first of all, the most important is that we have good outcomes, based on a high-quality surgery. It doesn't matter how long you need! I don't know. I have
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