Center of Excellence – An Innovative Treatment for Enlarged Prostate

The innovative surgical procedure enables treating an enlarged prostate of any size without open surgery. There is no risk of bleeding during and after the procedure, hospitalization time is minimal – less than 24 hours, and the short- and long-term results are excellent.

BPH is a common phenomenon in men: At 60 years old, half of all males endure symptoms of urinary tract obstruction due to an enlarged prostate. This figure increases to 70% at age 75. The prostate grows in the vast majority of men naturally and can give rise to urination problems over the years. Initially, the treatment is medicinal, but the need for surgery increases when the obstruction is severe or there are complications caused by the prostate’s size. The standard operation, which has been available for many years, is performed through the urethra under anesthesia, using an electric knife which removes the obstructing tissue (TURP). When the prostate is very large, there is a technical difficulty in access through the urethra, and until recently, the available operation involved open surgery and the risk of massive bleeding, along with a relatively long hospitalization.

Dr. Ehud Gnessin, a Senior Physician in Shamir Medical Center’s Department of Urology, is responsible for introducing a laser-based endoscopic method to treat BPH – the HoLEP method. To date, he has performed more than 1,000 such treatments in Israel and the U.S., and demand for them is continuously on the rise. To enable Dr. Gnessin to perform the HoLEP surgery at Shamir Medical Center, the hospital will have to purchase dedicated HoLEP instrumentation.

Dr. Gnessin studied medicine at the Hebrew University and specialized in urological surgery at the Rabin Medical Center, earning several awards of excellence during his residency, including Outstanding Intern and Outstanding Resident. During his residency, he also completed a medical officers course.

After completing his residency, he travelled to Indiana for a fellowship at the largest North American center for surgical removal of urinary tract stones and for prostate laser surgeries. After performing hundreds of procedures of both types during his fellowship, he returned to Israel, where he established and developed the minimally invasive urology unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Dr. Gnessin introduced HoLEP treatment in Israel, again, conducting hundreds of surgeries at Shaare Tzedek. In 2014-2016, he served as chairman of the Israeli Endourological Society.

He later moved to the U.S. to manage the minimally invasive urology unit at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University, one of the top institutions in the field. He was subsequently promoted to Chief of the Urology Division. Under his leadership, the division was named to the prestigious list of U.S. Best Hospitals in urology for the first time. In 2019, Dr. Gnessin returned to Israel and today he is a senior physician at Shamir Medical Center’s urology department. He has published numerous articles as well as textbooks in the field of surgical treatment of stones and prostate laser surgery.