Prostate ultrasound machine is another feather in St. Joe's cap
Health St. Joseph's is a hospital of tomorrow ... today
SAINT JOHN - St. Joseph's is the only hospital in New Brunswick that has a clinic dedicated to performing prostate ultrasounds.
The diagnostic test is used to show whether the prostate is enlarged and an abnormal growth that might be cancer is present.
About 500 procedures are performed each year, says urologist Dr. James Ashfield.
In many hospitals, prostate ultrasounds are done as part of the radiology department's mandate.
"We have a separate facility with dedicated machine and staff and we can use that centre whenever we need it," he said.
St. Joseph's is also home to the only urology wellness centre east of Montreal, performing everything from bladder exams to shock-wave lithotripsy.
The clinic is an important component of the urology department, offering both diagnostics and supportive treatment, such as continence and bed-wetting clinics and counselling for prostate cancer patients who have chosen to have surgery.
The support that's offered in terms of biofeedback treatments for women with stress incontinence is also unique, says Ashfield.
Urethral sling surgeries to treat urinary incontinence are also performed and, until recently, a nerve-stimulation treatment for overactive and painful bladder symptoms that modulates the way the nerves are interacting with the bladder was also unique to Saint John, says Ashfield, but Moncton is getting a similar program off the ground.
Bladder exams are the most frequent procedure performed in the urology centre, he said; at least 30 a week are done by five urologists.
Shock-wave lithotripsies, used to blast kidney stones, are done every Monday at the centre when a mobile lithotripsor pays a visit to Saint John. The $600,000 machine - the only one in the province - is owned by a private company and contracted by the province to make the rounds.
"Shock waves break the stones up and the patient passes the dust," said Ashfield.
"It's not painless, but it's a lot quicker recovery than what we used to do. Twenty years ago, we used to have to open people up and pull their stone out. That would be 10 days in hospital."
St. Joseph's Hospital performs about 10 lithotripsies every Monday and Ashfield hopes the facility will soon have its own kidney-stone-busting machine to make treatment more flexible.
"Patients who (arrive at) the emergency department on a Tuesday or a Wednesday are out of luck until this machine comes to town," said Ashfield.
"Sometimes they can't afford to wait for a week, so they end up getting secondary procedures like putting a tube in place to bypass the blockage. Those treatments may not be necessary if we had access to this machine. We could keep them overnight, control their pain, bring them over here and treat their stone."
Meanwhile, the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation has bought the department $70,000 worth of urodynamics equipment, which is used to measure bladder functions including storage capacity, pressure and emptying capability.
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