Urology – A Field of Medicine Requiring a High Degree of Sensitivity

The medical field of urology is relevant not only to men but to women and children as well. It is a delicate treatment area requiring a great deal of understanding on the part of the physician. In Munich the two university hospitals, Munich General Hospital, and several private hospitals and specialist practitioners offer specialized urological treatment using traditional and modern methods. There is also an emergency unit with a qualified urologist on duty day and night for emergencies such as renal colic or sudden ischuria.

The urological treatment area covers male and female urinary organs and the male genital organs in childhood and adulthood. Special focus, particularly in the university hospitals, is placed on non-invasive disintegration of stones in the kidney, gall, urinary bladder and ureter using state of the art equipment that can even be used for treating children. In addition, malignant tumours of the kidney, urinary bladder, ureter, prostate and testicles can be treated by either traditional surgery or the latest diagnostic and therapeutic methods, including recognition of bladder tumours in the initial stages by means of photodynamic diagnostics and the determination of tumour growth by fluorescent techniques.

One of the most modern treatments for prostate cancer is brachytherapy (seed implantation) which does not destroy the cells and which can be performed on an out-patient basis. In addition to traditional radical prostatectomy, other therapy options for the treatment of malignant growth in the prostate gland are treatment by HIFU (“highly intensive focused ultrasound”), the laparoscopic removal of the prostate gland and KTP (“green light”) laser treatment for prostatic hyperplasia.

Urinary incontinence is a subject regarded as anathema by both men and women. Both can be helped by medication, physiotherapy and, if necessary, surgery. Treatment success depends on the effective liaison between gynaecologists and urologists, in combination with a physical therapy individually tailored to suit the needs and problems of the patient. In Munich, patients have long benefited from the fact that under the supervision of understanding medical specialists, well-tried traditional methods have been combined successfully in a symbiosis with modern, high technology medicine.