Mr David Merrilees is a qualified urologist and member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He is fellowship trained in the United Kingdom under two internationally regarded urological surgeons - David Neal and Christopher Eden.
David's basic urology training was undertaken in New Zealand. Upon completion of his training he undertook a one year fellowship in Cambridge, UK, under Professor David Neal. Here he studied major open urological surgery with an emphasis on pelvic cancer (bladder and prostate) and kidney cancer. David also trained in Cambridge in advanced and complex testicular cancer.
As with all surgical specialties there is now a trend towards minimally invasive/laparoscopic/keyhole surgery to treat urological disease. David also trained in complex laparoscopic surgery under Chris Eden in the UK. Here he underwent high volume training to learn laparoscopic techniques to treat prostate, kidney and other disorders of the uro-genital tract.
Laparoscopic urology is now David's sub-specialty area of interest.
David has particular skills in Laparoscopic Nerve Sparing Radical Prostatectomy to treat prostate cancer, with excellent results for cancer cure, potency and continence.
For prostate cancer and other urological procedures, David is an Affiliated Provider for Southern Cross members.
David also performs laparoscopic radical nephrectomy for kidney cancer affording rapid recovery from surgery with minimal pain and early return to work.
Laparoscopic pyeloplasty is now the preferred way to treat pelvi-ureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction (blockage to the flow of urine out of the kidney).
David also has skills in treating enlarged prostates, kidney stones, disorders of the adrenal gland, bladder cancer and in performing prostate biopsy and urodynamics.
LAPAROSCOPIC PARTIAL NEPHRECTOMY is minimally invasive surgery to remove part of the kidney with all the benefits of laparoscopy and excellent outcomes. David has now performed a small number of these cases and is happy to discuss if this is an option - it is not always appropriate and for many tumours open surgery is still a good option.
ROBOTIC PROSTATECTOMY - David is now also performing robotic radical prostatectomy for select cases that may benefit from bilateral nerve sparing. He will however still be offering both open radical prostatectomy for more advanced cancers and laparoscopic surgery also for some locally advanced tumours.
