Urology

The Urology Service at Arabkir Joint Medical Center & Institute of Child and Adolescent Health provides care and treatment to adults, newborns, children and adolescents. Urology is a surgical specialty which deals with diseases of the urinary tract in both sexes and of the male reproductive organs. Although,   people often assign urological disorders only to the males, wrongly assuming that urology does not deal with females.

The mission of the department of the Urology at Arabkir JMC&ICAH is to provide a professionally balanced, evidence-based and full spectrum urological service according to the standards set up by Guidelines of the European and American Urological Associations. 

On the national level, the pediatric urology department at Arabkir JMC&ICAH is the reference center for urgent and regular urology surgery. This is the only department in Armenia, where the kidney transplantation in children and adults is performed.

 
The urology team at Arabkir JMC&ICAH provides quality treatment, care with a special focus on minimally invasive surgery for congenital as well as acquired urological diseases. The urologists are regularly trained at the leading medical centers in European and other foreign states and successfully apply the acquired experience and skills at Arabkir JMC&ICAH. Highly qualified specialists closely cooperate with other medical specialists to ensure best possible management and treatment for complex conditions requiring joint response.
 
Activities

Treatment of the conditions mentioned above very often includes psychological, medical and surgical components, thus we have identified five major tools used for the treatment of urological disorders, all readily available and widely used at our Center. They are:

- word
- medication
- open surgical interventions
- endoscopy
- laparoscopy

The staff of the Service of Urology masterly applies one or the combination of two or more of these modalities to tailor the treatment to your needs and condition. Such an approach allows ensuring the maximum result, necessary to recover and secure your health. The Center is unique in a sense that here you are offered exactly the treatment that is the most appropriate to you and  ensures the best possible result in accordance to your needs and not “what the doctor is able to do”. 

Furthermore, we would like to stress that we have the largest experience in Armenia with laparoscopic urologic surgery and offer this minimally-invasive treatment for a number of urological diseases of both upper and lower urinary tract – removal of renal cysts of any size and number, removal of kidneys for tumors, scarring, hydronephrosis, partial nephrectomies, stone removal from kidneys, ureters, bladder, removal of adrenal, removal of prostate for cancer, so-called radical prostatectomy etc. Laparoscopy provides the advantages of minimally-invasive surgery: no wound, very short hospital stay, quick recovery, etc., at the same time ensuring the effectiveness of open surgery (single manipulation, complete elimination of the problem, revision of the organ and its condition etc). Laparoscopy is a recent advance in urological surgery, performed through tiny incisions with the help of a camera. Most urologic surgeries can be safely performed by laparoscopy, instead of the traditional 15-30 cm incisions.

Of course, all other standards for the treatment of many urinary problems are available and widely used in our Center, such as so-called transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for BPH.

Thus the modern tools we use in our activity and availability of all necessary options combined with the experience make our clinic an attractive place for many patients, also out of Armenia.

Specialty Areas

To give you a more precise idea of urology, we have broken it down to subspecialty areas, which are fully covered by our Service:
- Pediatric Urology
- anomalies of the kidneys and ureters
- congenital hydronephrosis caused by ureteropelvic junction obstruction
- vesicoureteric reflux
- bladder exstrophy
- posterior urethral valves
- hypospadias
- undescended testes: cryptochidism
- genitourinary trauma
- genitourinary tumors
- pediatric urolithiasis
- urgent urology surgery
- voiding disorders
- neurogenic  disorders of bladder
- kidney transplatation
- Urology for Adults
- urologic oncology, which deals with cancer, that is malignant tumors of the genitourinary tract – kidneys, bladder, prostate, testicles
- lower urinary tract benign diseases, including benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, adenoma of the prostate), urethral strictures, hydrocele, varicocele
- urinary stone disease, that is calculi forming anywhere along the urinary tract from kidneys to prostate
- benign diseases of the kidneys, such as cysts, scarring, hydronephrosis due to strictures of the pelvic-ureteric junction, benign tumors
- specific and non-specific infections of the GU tract, such as acute and chronic pyelonephritis (inflammation of the kidneys), cystitis and urethritis (inflammation of the urinary bladder and urethra), orchitis, epidydimitis
- chronic pelvic pain syndrome (as a result of chronic prostatitis, urethritis, cystitis)
- malformations of the GU tract, which deals congenital developmental disorders
- traumas of the GU tract
- andrology and Male Infertility, which deal with psychological, medical and surgical aspects of sexual and genital disorders, including erectile dysfunction or impotence.
- female Urology, which focuses on urinary incontinence in females and pelvic outlet relaxation disorders
- neurourology (voiding disorders, urodynamic evaluation of patients)
- kidney transplantation

Our staff

Members of our team have had multiple trainings at the leading European and North American Centers and the accumulated experience of western developed countries in the field of diagnostics, treatment and follow-up of urological diseases is applied as widely as possible to our local conditions. You can meet our specialists and get the information you need should you decide to pay a visit to the Medical Center.

Professor Ara Babloyan, scientific director

Pediatric urology Dr. Sahak Arakelyan, MD, Associate Professor, Head of the Service

Dr. Karlen Ghuschyan, MD, Pediatric Urologist, Head of the Division

Dr. Karapet Shaqaryan, Associate Professor, Pediatric Urologist 

Dr. Sergey Babloyan, Pediatric Urologist

Dr. Albert Lalazaryan, Pediatric Urologist

Adult Urology
Dr. Ruben Hovhannisyan, MD, PhD, the Head of the Adults Urology Services, Urologist
Dr. Karina Arakelyan, MD, Urologist

Accomplishments

We have numerous achievements practically all subspecialties of urology. Nevertheless, there is a field which we consider our highest priority: the Laparoscopic Urology where we do have many achievements but still more challenges. Due to accumulated experience, we are able to do practically all urological interventions laparoscopically depending on the indications, and we will keep on this right track as on this way our specialty develops fastest and the results are most rewarding for both the patient, doctor and health system.

Cooperation

We closely cooperate with the following organizations:
- Antwerp university hospital, Belgium
- New York Columbia University, US
- Mother and Child Hospital, Lyon, France 
- Necker Children's Hospital, Paris, France

Information for patient

To schedule an appointment, please call (37410) 238 526 ext 141
Address: 30 Mamikonyants str., Yerevan 0014
Karina Arakelyan, MD, (37410) 236 524,
e-mail: arakelyan_karina@yahoo.com
Ruben Hovhannisyan, MD, PhD, (37410) 236 524,
E-mail: hovhannisyanr@armtelemed.org, fax: (37410) 580 449