The Department of Urology at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) was first formed as a subspecialty service within the Department of General Surgery in 1993, and eventually matured into its own Department in 2007.

Since then, we have rapidly expanded our capabilities to become a one-stop centre providing a comprehensive range of urological subspecialty services. Since 2019, the Department of Urology is headed by Adjunct Associate Professor Sharon Yeo. We pride ourselves on becoming the department of choice for urological patient care and for staff to work in, through delivering excellent clinical care for our patients. This has been the result of having our specialists complete formal subspecialty training at best centres in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, as well as harnessing the best available technologies in the market to deliver cost-effective treatment to our patients with a gentle, caring touch.

Urologic Oncology

We work closely with our colleagues in the Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology and Radiology departments to provide holistic multi-disciplinary care for our cancer patients.

These include regular multi-disciplinary tumour board and uro-radiology case discussions for our patients.

In addition, we offer both open and minimally-invasive surgical options for all urological cancers. We were the first to perform radical perineal prostatectomy in Singapore in 1996 and also performed the first laparoscopic radical nephrectomy in the country in 2002 and the first laparoscopic radical prostatectomy in 2003. We launched our robotic surgery programme in 2010 and had completed 100 successful robotic surgeries by 2012. Today, our robotic radical prostatectomy and partial nephrectomy programmes are well established. We are also a referral centre for retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for men with testicular cancer. Finally, we regularly collaborate with our General Surgery colleagues and gynaecologists (from the neighboring KK Women's and Children's Hospital) to perform complex pelvic oncology surgeries.

In terms of state-of-the-art cancer diagnostics, we were the first in the region to provide magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-fusion transrectal prostate biopsy for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. As part of our well-rounded care for cancer patients, we formed the TTSH Prostate Cancer Support Group in August 2011. This popular support group meets regularly and includes participants from other restructured hospitals in Singapore.

Endourology

We have a very high volume of urinary stones cases and our team offers a comprehensive suite of minimally-invasive treatments for our patients, including extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL), flexible ureterorenoscopy, percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and laparoscopic ureterolithotomy.

We also pioneered supine PCNL in Singapore.

Since 2014, we were the first hospital in Singapore to utilise the 180-W XPS Greenlight laser for transurethral vaporization of the prostate (TUVP) for benign prostatic hyperplasia. This is an invaluable option for high-risk patients due to the lower bleeding risk and the fact that patients do not need to stop their anti-platelet and anti-coagulation treatments for surgery.

Andrology and Fertility

We have a dedicated complex erectile dysfunction (CED) clinic and also a sexual wellness clinic with occupational therapists and psychologists to help patients with sexual dysfunction.

We were also the first restructured hospital in Singapore to start the clinical service of low intensity extracorporeal shockwave treatment (LI-ESWT) for patients with erectile dysfunction.

In addition, we provide a full range of andrology surgeries including penile prosthesis surgery, surgery for Peyronie's disease and microsurgical procedures such as varicocoelectomy and vasectomy reversals.

Finally, we run a regular subfertility clinic at KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

Female Urology, Neuro-urology and Reconstructive Urology

Neuro-urology is one of the biggest strengths of our department and we collaborate closely with our rehabilitation medicine colleagues in a multi-disciplinary clinic at Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital focusing on patients with neurological problems, including spinal cord injury.

We also have a dedicated pelvic floor clinic for patients with functional urology and incontinence issues. Our multi-disciplinary team include fellowship-trained urologists, nurse clinicians and physiotherapists and provide a comprehensive one-stop service for the assessment and management of patients who need urodynamic evaluation and complex reconstructive surgery, including urethroplasty, minimally-invasive repair of vesico-vaginal fistula and incontinence surgery.

Education and Training

The department is an active contributor to the training of local and regional urologists through the organisation of numerous conferences and workshops. These include:

Robotic Prostatectomy Expert Symposium (2011)
2nd TTSH Robotic Prostate and Bladder Surgery Expert Symposium (2013)
Good Urodynamics Practice Course (2014)
3rd TTSH Robotic Kidney Surgery Expert Symposium (2015)
1st Advances in Endourology Symposium (2015)

Our high surgical volume, coupled with the strong institutional culture of teaching, has seen our department become a teaching centre for urologists from regional countries wishing to understudy the latest techniques in endourology and minimally invasive surgery via our minimally invasive fellowship programme.

We also have a strong residency programme with our residents regularly publishing in peer-reviewed journals and consistently winning awards at local examinations and conferences.