Specialized treatment for Urologic disorders now available in Tracy
2001
Tracy residents no longer need to travel long distances for top-notch treatment for urologic disorders like prostate cancer, incontinence and kidney stones. Before Dr. Ray Leidich, a urological oncologist, joined the hospital staff last year, the closest urology centers offering similar treatments, were in Sacramento and San Francisco. Leidich's highly specialized skills add a full spectrum of urology services to the hospital's repertoire.
New technology continues to improve urological treatments, and Dr. Leidich is one of the few urologists practicing many of these procedures. For example, he performs radical perineal prostatectomies to treat prostate cancer. This procedure forgoes the traditional abdominal surgery by going in through the perineum. The technique lessens the blood loss for the patient by 75%, shortens the hospital stay and often alleviates the need for narcotic pain medication during recovery. Traditional prostate surgery often requires blood transfusions, but he has not had to transfuse any patient with blood, in over 200 consecutive cases using the perineal approach. Selected candidates undergo a "nerve-sparing" technique to help maintain erectile function.
STCH will expand its urological treatment technology in April when it opens a prostate cancer brachytherapy program. By adding brachytherapy to existing services, the hospital will have a full-fledged urology center, Leidich says. Brachytherapy, an alternative to radical surgery and external radiation, involves injecting radioactive "seeds" to treat prostate cancer. Patients undergo a pre-treatment study using an ultrasound machine, the information is put on a computer disk and then a computer program determines how many seeds to place and where to place them to most effectively radiate the cancer. "Traditionally patients had to go to a cancer center five days a week for seven to eight weeks of radiation treatment," Leidich says.
Implanting the seeds, on the other hand, doesn't require a hospital stay and allows doctors to use twice the dose of radiation, because the radiation isn't going through other parts of the body and thus doesn't damage as much healthy tissue and the likelihood of maintaining erectile function is 70%.
Other exciting developments in urology include an improved quality of life after radical bladder cancer surgery. In the past, patients whose cancerous bladders were removed had to have urostomies and thus carry bags to collect urine. Dr. Leidich makes a new bladder for men using a piece of intestine and connecting it to the urethra. This allows men to void through the urethra and avoid the need for catheterization or external drainage bags. A catherterizeable pouch is available for women, which can be emptied by passing a small catheter into it every few hours.
A new procedure to treat kidney stones, intra-urethral and intra- urethral laser-tripsy, involves vaporizing kidney stones with a minimally invasive technique. There is also a new technique to treat incontinence in women that has a 99 percent success rate and takes about 45 minutes. Done on an outpatient basis, the cadaveric facial sling procedure involves only a small vaginal incision, replaces a lengthier abdominal operation and is "virtually painless."
Dr. Leidich also provides advanced treatments for BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasis), a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate. He also offers state-of-the-art treatments for continence and impotency, including prosthetic surgery.
His passion for his work and his role as a consultant to companies that manufacture BPH and prostate cancer medications keep his abreast of the changing technology. "I spend most of my awake life involved in it and I enjoy it."
He is pleased with STCH's efforts in obtaining the technology and instruments needed for up-to-date urological care and also appreciates the quality of care at the hospital.
"The thing that excites me about Tracy is the interest and expertise of people in the operating room, recovery rooms, and short-stay unit, as well as the hospitals overall friendliness," Leidich adds. "As a cancer surgeon, I like to spend time with my patients and I like to see them treated nicely when they come in for surgery."