General Urology

What to Expect

Each year, our urologists treat thousands of patients, providing diagnosis and care for the complete range of urological conditions.

Many patients seek consultations from us when they experience signs or symptoms that may point to a urological problem. These symptoms include:

• Hematuria (visible blood in the urine)
• Severe left-sided or right-sided flank pain, sometimes associated with nausea or fever
• Incontinence (leaking of urine)
• Gradual or sudden inability to urinate
• Infections and inflammations
• Abnormal test results, such as increased prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood levels

Your First Visit

Please bring X-rays or other test results to your first visit. If your primary care physician or internist has referred you to our program, please ask him or her to forward your medical records to us.

At your first appointment, you can expect:

• A review of your medical history and notes from your primary care physician or internist
• A comprehensive health examination
• Additional tests or scans (if needed)

For your convenience, tests such as X-rays, CT scans, blood tests and/or urine cultures are performed onsite, either within our office or nearby at the hospital’s main campus. Most tests are noninvasive or minimally invasive.

Compassionate & Personalized Treatment

Once your urologist diagnoses your condition, he or she will discuss treatment options and:

• Develop a personalized treatment plan to address your particular symptoms and underlying causes

or

• Refer you to a subspecialist within the Department of Urology who focuses on treating your type of disorder

Many common disorders can be treated with medication and other conservative, nonsurgical approaches. If you are referred to one of our subspecialists, you will receive treatment from an expert in his or her urological discipline.

Our urologists specialize in these subdisciplines:

• Genitourinary cancers
• Kidney and bladder stones
• Voiding dysfunctions and incontinence
• Prostate-related diseases (e.g. cancer and enlarged prostate)
• Neuro-urology
• Female urology
• Erectile dysfunction

Clinical Trials of Innovative Treatments

The Department of Urology is dedicated to providing patients with outstanding basic urological care and improving patient outcomes. Members of our team, including board-certified urologists, nurses, residents and fellows, regularly participate in clinical research studies that seek to improve clinical care.

If your condition is one of those we are researching, we may ask you to take part in a study. We never enroll you without your permission, and there is no obligation to participate.

Expert Diagnostics

Our team of physicians, nurses and other professionals carefully evaluates each patient. After diagnosing your condition, we discuss available treatment options and recommend the most effective therapies.

An evaluation typically includes:

• Determining whether the patient's problem is simple or complex
• Ref erring a patient to the right specialist in our department (if necessary)
• Identifying specific diseases and disorders and treating them as quickly and effectively as possible

Outstanding & Accessible Care

We offer patients confidential evaluations, treatment and follow-up care. State-of-the-art resources available at our office include:

• Procedure rooms for minimally invasive procedures (both diagnostic and therapeutic)
• Complex diagnostic testing conveniently available onsite (e.g. urodynamics, infertility evaluation, cystoscopy and prostate biopsy)
• Confidential treatment of patients with erectile dysfunction (ED)
• Our urologists perform a variety of procedures in our offices, such as:
• Non-scalpel vasectomies
• Biopsies to collect and evaluate tissue of the prostate or bladder for abnormalities
• Neurostimulator testing for patients with overactive bladder syndrome
• Cystoscopies to examine the bladder for abnormalities
• Laser treatment of bladder tumors
• Insertion and removal of temporary stents for kidney stones
• Minimally invasive surgical procedures