Francisco E. Martins1, Carina Zhang2
1Department of Urology, University of Lisbon, School of Medicine, Hospital Santa Maria, Lisbon, Portugal; 2TAU Editorial Office, AME Publishing Company
Correspondence to: Carina Zhang. TAU Editorial Office, AME Publishing Company. Email: tau@amepc.org.
Editor’s note
Translational Andrology and Urology (TAU) has published a number of special series in recent years, receiving overwhelming responses from academic readers around the world. Our success cannot be achieved without the contribution of our distinguished guest editors. Last year TAU launched a new column, “Interviews with Guest Editors”, to better present our guest editors and to further promote the special series. We also hope to express our heartfelt gratitude for their tremendous effort and to further uncover the stories behind the special series.
The special series “Controversies and Considerations of Penile Surgery” (1) led by Dr. Francisco E. Martins (Figure 1) and Dr. Tobias S. Köhler has attracted many readers since its publication. This special series has assembled a world-class group of authors to discuss issues and techniques that often are important but are difficult to quantify in traditional scientific literature, and it is hoped that readers could find the answers to some of the controversies surrounding penile surgery from this special series. At this moment, we are honored to have an interview with Dr. Martins to share his scientific career experience and insights on this special series.
Figure 1 Dr. Francisco E. Martins
Expert introduction
Francisco E. Martins is a Consultant Urologist with a focus on male and female genitourinary reconstruction, particularly the complications of pelvic malignancies, minimally invasive treatment options for penile and urethral cancers, and Andrology. He has been a Consultant Urologist at Santa Maria University Hospital since 2008. He served in the GURS Board of Directors (Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons) since May 2017 and as President of GURS Society from May 2019 to May 2022. In October 2017 and September 2018, he was awarded Honorary Membership of the Hungarian Urological Association (HUA) and South African Urological Association (SAUA), respectively. In March 2021, he received the Philippine Society of Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons (PhilGURS) Honorary Membership.
Interview
TAU: What motivated you to specialize in the field of urology?
Dr. Martins: Since my two last years in medical school, I started to gain significant interest in andrological aspects of the medical science, later to include both male and female genitourinary reconstruction.
TAU: With your rich experience, what is the key factor to performing successful penile surgery?
Dr. Martins: I would highlight pre-operative assessment, shared decision-making, assessment of risks and benefits of treatments (since most are not life-saving, but quality-of-life preserving or restoring), meticulous surgical dissections and attention to every detail, and above all, a solid patient-physician relationship based on mutual trust.
TAU: Could you share with us the recent advances in penile distal urethroplasties? How do you see these advances impacting the healthcare industry and improving penile distal urethroplasties?
Dr. Martins: Like in all surgical fields, recent advances have been based on fewer invasiveness characteristics of the innovative surgical strategies that have been developed. Surgeons should be flexible enough to master a diverse therapeutic arsenal and, keep an open mind to adapt to new scenarios and adopt new procedures to achieve the best possible functional outcome for the patient. This will include significant investment by the healthcare industry.
TAU: What do you see as the most important direction for future studies on penile distal urethroplasties? Are there any particular challenges or obstacles that need to be overcome in order to make progress in this direction?
Dr. Martins: Better minimally invasive therapeutic strategies including eventually endoscopic and/or pharmacological approaches that can be performed on an outpatient basis with lower financial cost and quicker return to patients’ daily activities.
TAU: Is the topic of this special series associated with any of your recent research projects? Would you please share some significant research you are working on?
Dr. Martins: Yes, it is. Currently, I am involved with clinical projects on the management of male posterior urethral complications resulting from pelvic cancer treatments, as well as penile reconstruction associated with trauma, Peyronie’s disease, and cancer, the ultimate goal being full restoration of urinary and sexual functions and quality of life.
TAU: If given an opportunity to update this special series, what would you like to moderate, add, or emphasize to provide a more informative series?
Dr. Martins: In the next opportunity to update this series, I definitely would like to recommend revisiting some of the topics covered in this current series, but also to include (and critically compare) these recent challenging, innovative strategies to older, “time-honored” ones.
Reference
- Controversies and Considerations of Penile Surgery. Available online: https://tau.amegroups.com/post/view/controversies-and-considerations-of-penile-surgery