When it comes to your health, finding the right medical professional to help you is extremely important. For patients with disorders of the urinary tract, the expert to call is a urologist. In the greater Baltimore and Mid-Atlantic areas, Chesapeake Urology Associates, with 48 urologists on staff, is the premier treatment center for patients with urologic conditions.
Urology is a medical specialty that deals with the function of the urinary tract in both men and women, as well as the genitals of both sexes. The urinary tract includes the kidneys, the ureters, the urinary bladder, the prostate and the urethra. Urology also includes erectile function, infertility and the testicular problems in the male patient.
Becoming a urologist requires four years of medical school and five to six years of residency. According to Dr. Geoffrey Sklar, Chief Medical Officer at Chesapeake Urology, many urologists also complete fellowships for a year or two in order to receive even more specialized training. Although urology is a surgical specialty, urologists must have a thorough knowledge of many other specialties because of the different conditions they encounter. These other specialties include internal medicine, pediatrics, oncology and gynecology, among others.
The number of conditions urologists treat on a regular basis is vast. “The most common condition that we treat is the benign growth of the prostate in men, also called BPH,” Dr. Sklar notes. “We also treat prostate cancer, bladder and kidney cancers, testicular cancer, kidney stones, urinary tract infections, incontinence, leakage of urine, erectile dysfunction, and male infertility and sexuality, among many other problems.”
Urologists’ scope of care includes:
- Incontinence in both males and females (see related article on page 20)
- Kidney stones
- Erectile dysfunction
- Benign prostatic hyperplasia (see related article on page 8 )
- Vasectomies and vasectomy reversals
- Male infertility and vasectomy reversals (see related article on page 10)
- Hematuria, or blood in the urine
- Cancer of the prostate, testicle, bladder, penis and kidney
- And other disorders
Watching out for abnormal urinary symptoms is crucial to catching problems early, Dr. Sklar emphasizes. These symptoms can include:
- Blood in the urine
- Discomfort or a burning sensation when urinating
- Pain in the flank or side
- Urinating more frequently than normal
- Erectile problems for men
Taking swift action to correct these symptoms is very important. “For cancers, when they’re diagnosed early, many are curable,” Dr. Sklar says. “If the problem is kidney stones, they can affect long-term kidney function, and if they’re allowed to advance, the damage may be permanent. And the same goes for erectile dysfunction – it’s much easier to treat early rather than when it’s been there for years.”
When patients in the Baltimore area have a problem with their urinary tract, the professionals at Chesapeake Urology are here to help. “We have 53 doctors, and we have someone who specializes in every area of urology at Chesapeake Urology,” Dr. Sklar points out. “Many of our doctors are chiefs of urology at area hospitals. Another is chief of surgery and two are urological consultants to the NFL Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles. We care about our work and what we do here, and we care about our patients. Our doctors make us the best!”
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 10:35 am and is filed under Patient Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
