Athens, GreeceThe following urologists passed the oral examination in Athens and were granted the FEBU title. Our sincere congratulations to:

Dr. Omar Abd Daim SyriaDr. Ehab Helmy Abdel Goad South AfricaDr. Ahmed Hassan Abdul Ameer IraqDr. Samir Thomas Akkad AustriaDr. Samer Al Oraifi Saudi ArabiaDr, Anwar Salem Saleh Al-Satari JordanDr, Firas Al-Ubaidi SwedenDr. Samer Aldardary SyriaDr. Majid Asgher Mohammed Taqi Alnuwab IraqDr. Abdulkader Alobaidy QatarDr. João Fernando Alturas Da Silva PortugalDr. Waleed Ibraheem Fahmi Aman EgyptDr. Lisa Andersen DenmarkDr. Brigitte Arndt SwitzerlandDr.,Jasmin Katrin Badawi GermanyDr. Giovanni Betto ItalyDr. Maike Beuke GermanyDr. Holger Böhme GermanyDr. Peter Martin Braun GermanyDr. Alberto Briganti ItalyDr. David Brix GermanyDr. Christoph Buchberger AustriaDr. Maria Angela Cerruto ItalyDr. Brian Chaplin United KingdomDr. Sertac Cimen TurkeyDr. Bernhard Dallinger AustriaDr. Orietta Dalpiaz ItalyDr. Saad Dakhil F. Daraji IraqDr. Thomas Deix GermanyDr. Martin Simon Diedrich GermanyDr. Holger G. Dietrich GermanyDr. Michael Dobrovits AustriaDr. Eduard Dobry SwitzerlandDr. Axel Eichler GermanyDr. Moustafa El-Boraey Saudi ArabiaDr. Emad El-Sobky United Arab EmiratesDr. Mohamed Elgahawy EgyptDr. Farshid Fateri SwitzerlandDr. Adem Fazlioglu TurkeyDr. Werner Feuerstein AustriaDr. Albert Francés SpainDr. Ashwini Gaur IndiaDr. Stavros Giannopoulos GreeceDr. Pavlos Gkritsios GreeceDr. Jonathan Goddard United KingdomDr. Oliver Gralla GermanyDr. Eirikur Orri Gudmundsson SwedenDr. Hubert Hager von Strobele ItalyDr. Munther Halabi SyriaDr. Rami Hasan JordanDr. Ihab Ahmed Hekal EgyptDr. Thomas R. W. Herrmann GermanyDr. Alexander Hinn GermanyDr. Thomas Hofmann GermanyDr. Emre Huri TurkeyDr. Mohanad Mahmood Hussein Alsaedi IraqDr. Riikka Järvinen FinlandDr. Dimitrios Kalivianakis GreeceDr. Anastasios Karatzas GreeceDr. Paulos Katavelos GreeceDr. Hossein Keyhan IranDr. Seyed Esmail Kia Germany

Dr. Jan Kliment Jr. SlovakiaDr. Nikolaos Koliakos GreeceDr. Christoph Kümmel GermanyDr. Tobias Kurt GermanyDr. Fatih Osman Kurtulus TurkeyDr. Stefano Lai ItalyDr. Tryfon Lalountas GreeceDr. Stefan Langenkamp GermanyDr. Dara Lazar AustriaDr. Martina Lehnen Schmauss SwitzerlandDr. Thomas Leippold SwitzerlandDr. Alexandros Lekas GreeceDr. Cornelius Lenggenhager SwitzerlandDr. Anne Limbacher GermanyDr. El Mostafa Lokmane FranceDr. Raffaele Longo ItalyDr. Miguel Nuno Lourenço PortugalDr. Isabel Märk AustriaDr. Walid Massoud FranceDr. Patrick Maurer SwitzerlandDr. Herbert Meixl AustriaDr. Ahmed Masaoud Mohamed GermanyDr. Mahmoud Antar Naanoush Saudi ArabiaDr. Joe Nohra FranceDr. Kvetoslav Novak Czech RepublicDr. Athanassios Oeconomou GreeceDr. Eng Kwee Ong United KingdomDr. Efstathios Pantazis GreeceDr. Thrasivoulos Pantazis GreeceDr. Pantelis Papadaniil GreeceDr. George Papadopoulos GreeceDr. Athanasios Papatsoris GreeceDr. Susanna Pasanen FinlandDr. Frederick Peeren BelgiumDr. Alexandre Pelzer AustriaDr. Branimir Penev United KingdomDr. Andreas Petrolekas GreeceDr. Stefania Pilloni ItalyDr. Anton Ponholzer AustriaDr. Govardhan Krishna Reddy United KingdomDr. André Reitz SwitzerlandDr. Martin Ringsdorf GermanyDr. Andreas Römer GermanyDr. Morgan Rouprêt FranceDr. Robin Ruszat SwitzerlandDr. Markus Sachs GermanyDr. Hisham Mohamed Fathey Salama El-Shawaf Saudi ArabiaDr. Muwafak Salman United Arab EmiratesDr. Samer Schakaki GermanyDr. Peter Schatteman BelgiumDr. Marek Schmidt Czech RepublicDr. Johannes Schobesberger AustriaDr. Christian Schwentner AustriaDr. Josef Sedlácek Czech RepublicDr. Abdulrahman Seirawan SyriaDr. Ashraf Selim United KingdomDr. Datis Shahriari GermanyDr. Mustafa Sofikerim TurkeyDr. José Antonio Sotelino Crespo GermanyDr. Michail Stalikas GreeceDr. Loukas Stenos GreeceDr. Kasra Taymoorian GermanyDr. Mohanarangam Thangavelu United KingdomDr. Nikesh Thiruchelvam United KingdomDr. João Nuno Tomada Marques PortugalDr. Cédric Treuthardt Switzerland

Dr. Stefan Tritschler GermanyDr. Lutz Trojan GermanyDr. Christos Tsalikis GreeceDr. Max Emanuel Tüllmann GermanyDr. Sabina Vogl AustriaDr. Magnus Wagenius SwedenDr. Matthias Waldert AustriaDr. Helena Walfridsson SwedenDr. Peter Werthemann SwitzerlandDr. Marc Wilkens GermanyDr. Simon Wilkinson United KingdomDr. Theodoros Xenitidis GreeceDr. Ihsan Ghdban Yousif QatarDr. Ioannis Zachos GreeceDr. Muhammed Zahir IndiaDr. Stefan Zastrow GermanyDr. Christian Zeller Germany

Budapest, Hungary Warsaw, PolandDr. Gergely Bánfi Dr. Waldemar BiałekDr. Gábor Csanádi Dr. Michał BiałozytDr. Péter Csicsenkov Dr. Piotr BobiarskiDr. Miklós Damásdi Dr. Radosław BonieckiDr. Gábor Filkor Dr. Piotr CieslinskiDr. András Horváth Dr. Adam GołabDr. András Hunyadi Dr. Małgorzata Hojan-OsickaDr. András Jávorházy Dr. Jacek Jastrz ebskiDr. Tibor Jenei Dr. Marek JerominDr. Péter Kardos Dr. Mirosław KawałkoDr. István Király Dr. Jacek KazmierzewskiDr. Péter Kovács Dr. Michał KretkowskiDr. Samson Melesse Dr. Tomasz PodczarskiDr. Viktor Nagy Dr. Ewelina SzliszkaDr. Péter Riesz Dr. Marek UrbanDr. Róbert SeregDr. Gábor Sterlik Dr. Attila Szendr´oiDr. Zsolt Szepesváry

Out of the 198 urologists a total of 180 participants passed the oral exams last 2 June 2007 given by the EBU Examination Committee. The 15th edition of the annual European Board Examination in Urology, Part II (oral examination), was simultaneously held in Athens, Warsaw and Budapest.

For senior residents in Poland and Hungary, the EBU examinations are an obligatory part of their training. Both the written and the oral examination are organised in cooperation with and under the auspices of the urological associations. The examinations are taken in the native languages, Hungarian and Polish, respectively.

The oral examination is a structured clinical examination (OSCE) lasting around 55 minutes and conducted by one examiner and one trustee. Each candidate is examined on three carefully selected clinical cases where all candidates are required to answer a set of questions of a comparable level of difficulty.

HUA supportAs in the previous year, the examination in Athens

180 participants pass EBU’s 15th oral examswas organised in collaboration with the Hellenic Urological Association (HUA). The EBU Examination Committee expressed its appreciation for the valuable assistance and generous financial contribution offered by the HUA. The EBU Exam committee believes that the HUA’s support clearly underscores the importance the association gives to the FEBU examinations and show their intention to make the exams available to as many Greek senior residents and urologists as possible.

In Athens 145 of the 158 candidates passed and were granted the esteemed Fellow of the European Board

of Urology (FEBU) title. Candidates came from all over Europe and overseas. The exams were given in the language of the candidate’s choice such as English, French, Dutch, Danish, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese.

Poland and HungaryIn Poland, the FEBU examinations were introduced in 1997 as an obligatory part of the residents training. The EBU also credited Professor A. Borówka, president of the Polish Urological Association, for his vision and personal efforts that allowed Polish urologists to participate in the EBU examinations in

their native language. There are 291 Polish urologists who were granted the FEBU title out of the total 2,140 FEBU’s worldwide.

Meanwhile, the oral exams in Hungary were organised for the second year. As in Poland, participation by urologists-in-training in the FEBU exam is also obligatory. The EBU exam committee lauded the invaluable efforts done by members of the examination committee in Budapest in conducting an efficient and successful exam.

EBU Exams

Exam committee chairman Dr. Theo de Reijke hands out a

FEBU diploma to Dr. Orietta Dalpiaz, one of the successful

candidates in Athens.

Professor A. Borówka, president of the Polish Urological

Association, presents the FEBU diploma to Dr. Bialek

Waldemar.

Members of the Examination Board in Hungary

Mr. Peter Whelan and HUA president Dr. Dimitrios Kantzavelos

18 European Urology Today August/September 2007

EBU boosts efforts to get exam into nationalexit regulations

Residents-in-Training Programme in Urology at Kiel’s University Hospital Schlwesig-Holstein gets EBU certification

The European Board of Urology (EBU) aims to further boost current efforts to have the EBU exam incorporated in the exit regulations of all European Union (EU) countries. Reaching this goal, however, requires extensive co-ordination with other medical specialities in order to achieve more solid results.

“A long term goal is to try incorporating the EBU exam in the exit regulations of all EU countries. To that aim there have been meetings under the umbrella of the UEMS (Union Européenne des Médecins Spécialistes) with all the surgical specialties,” said Mr. Peter Whelan, president of the EBU Management Foundation.

Whelan said other medical specialties have recognised the need for such a long-awaited move and that there is consensus that all parties will benefit if national exit regulations include a European-wide exit examination.

“There will be a concerted drive to get all European surgical specialties, and hopefully, all medical

The Department of Urology and Paediatric Urology was recently certified as an official EBU (European Board of Urology) training centre.

The training programme started in 2001 under the guidance of the new Medical Director, Prof. Klaus-Peter Jünemann. The urology staff consists of 17 doctors, seven of whom are certified board urologists while 10 are residents in training. In addition, the department employs one technical engineer for experimental research.

Our department commands 40+ beds for inpatients. On average, 2,200 inpatients are treated and operated per year. The outpatient clinic covers more than 3,500 patients per year and includes specialty subdivisions for oncology, like oncology boards, and interdisciplinary approaches such as neurourology,

urodynamics, incontinence treatment, andrology, paediatric urology, endoscopy and stone therapy plus some more.

Collaboration with the Department of Interventional Radiology takes place on a daily basis; with the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine there is a weekly collaboration routine. Moreover, our clinic regularly cooperates with the Department of General Surgery and the Departments of Gynaecology and Gynaecologic Oncology. In addition, we have recently started collaboration with a local community hospital (Ostseeklinik Kiel, Germany).

The training programme for becoming a certified board urologist follows a 5-year-schedule. The first year of training involves practical training both on the wards and the outpatient clinic as well as small surgical procedures. The second year covers specialist training in urodynamics and ultrasound procedures, while the third year focuses on stone therapy training, such as extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy and endoscopic surgery, including percutaneous procedures like PCNL.

The fourth year covers transurethral resections, the fifth year centres on open surgery and oncological case studies. Additionally, rotational training in all specialty clinics is required of each resident.

The training program is designed to yield fully qualified certified board urologists who are capable

Dr. Stefan HautmannKeil (DE)

EBU Certified Centers

of working either in a hospital setting or in their own private practice. Ten residents are currently in the training programme, two of whom have recently become board-certified.

We are able to offer our trainees unique expertise in the treatment of urinary bladder dysfunctions like neuromodulation therapy: our clinic is a renowned centre of excellence for incontinence treatment. Both conservative and operative incontinence treatment is performed on a daily basis, including stem cell therapy for urinary incontinence. More than 800 urodynamic investigations are performed every year.

Oncology treatment presents another focus in our department. More than 400 cases of prostate cancer are treated every year, with special attention to nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy, brachytherapy and cystoprostatectomy for combined prostate and bladder cancer. Approximately 100 cystectomies for

treatment of bladder cancer are performed per year.

Furthermore, we recently invented the so-called “Kiel Concept”, which prescribes a detailed administration routine of PDE5 inhibitors for patients who underwent radical prostatectomy to enable efficient and early rehabilitation of post-operative erectile function.

Based on this concept we have been able to achieve high potency up to 93% (and continence up to 98%!) in this patient group. Our department also ranges as one of the chief centres for penile cancer, with the largest penile cancer tumour database in Germany.

We maintain active scientific cooperation with the following institutes:

Regarding stem cell therapy for incontinence we cooperate with the Department of General Surgery, for neurological and neurourological research we cooperate with the Department of Neurology, both of them belonging to the same campus as ourselves (UKSH, Campus Kiel).

With respect to urodynamic research we cooperate closely with the Balgrist Hospital of the University of Zurich/Switzerland. Moreover, there is a permanently established programme for the exchange of tissue and specimen from bladder tumours and for comparing data from our respective tumour databases, with the University of Miami, Florida (USA).

specialties in general, to have a European-wide exit examination which is not supra-national, but which is incorporated with, or is part of, the national exit regulations,” Whelan added.

At present, countries like Poland and Hungary have incorporated the EBU exams (written and oral) in their national exit examinations. In Western Europe the Netherlands, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, Switzerland and Austria have incorporated only the written exams.

Annually, the EBU administers and offers the written and oral exams to candidates who, after satisfactorily

passing both exams, are granted a diploma and the Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU) title, which is considered a mark of excellence. The EBU Fellowship diploma, however, has no legal standing and does not confer the right to practice urology in the EU or elsewhere.

Aside from working on getting the EBU exams incorporated in national exit regulations, Whelan said the EBU is also encouraging more straightforward residency programmes to seek EBU certification. The move is in line with the EBU’s goal to set up educational standards for training institutions.

Whelan also said the EBU aims to accredit all subspecialty training programmes where fellowships are offered. “And where national and international class subspecialties are being performed, we should have these units get subspecialty certification,” Whelan explained.

ExpectationsAsked on the EBU’s prospects of achieving its goals regarding the EBU exams being incorporated at the national level, Whelan said there is a fair chance

considering that already some countries have recognised the need to harmonise standards.

“We have aspirations that they will be successful and we’re very hopeful that more regulation authorities in more European states will accept it, especially since it’s not only urologists who are doing it on their own. Things go forward and if any specialty is likely to be successful, it’s urology because they (urologists) are by nature cooperative,” said Whelan.

Although conceding that reaching goals to harmonise standards require a sustained effort since individual countries safeguard their own agendas, Whelan credits international associations like the EAU for not only supporting international projects but also laying the groundwork for backing up such initiatives.

“The EAU as the major scientific body has been a great unifier of European urology. People know each other, people know what to do. So there’s a very good prospect,” he said.

By Joel Vega

Mr. Peter Whelan, president of

the EBU

EBU Exams

Medical staff of the Department of Urology & Pediatric Urology

at the University Hospital Schlwesig-Holstein in Kiel

The EBU Examination Committee annually organizes an In-Service Assessment in collaboration with programme directors in training institutes worldwide.

The multiple choice questions (MCQs) used in past assessments have been compiled and are available as small booklets which are eminent study tools. These booklets containing MCQs of prior assessments - 2001 & 2002, 2003 & 2004 and 2005 & 2006 - are for sale at EUR 20 each and can be ordered through the EBU website.

Announcement

2007 Assessment questions available on-line

As a consideration - keeping in mind that the questions used in assessments are rather specific and are not comparable to those included in the EBU written examination (Part I) - these booklets are also widely used to prepare for the written examination.

The 2007 In-Service Assessment MCQs will be published early 2008.

Between 1 September and 15 December 2007, this year’s assessment questions will be posted on the

EBU website, allowing you to test your knowledge on-line!

Additional information, as well as registration forms can be found on the EBU website.

European Board of Urology Phone : +31 26 389 08 46E-mail : ebu@ebu.comWeb : www.ebu.com

Do you know. . .The EBU has granted 2,139 FEBU titles to urologists all over the world as of August 2007. Below are the top 12 countries with the highest FEBU title holders: 1 Poland 291 2 Greece 195 3 Spain 186 4 Germany 177 5 Italy 170 6 United Kingdom 159 7 France 136 8 Austria 111 9 Portugal 105 10 Switzerland 93 11 Belgium 87 12 The Netherlands 83

August/September 2007 19European Urology Today