About Cairns Urology
At Cairns Urology, we have been caring for you, our patients and our very many referrals from you, since 1997.
Over the years, we have worked effectively on developing innovation and change in different treatments and therapies; assisting our patients to rewarding and effective recoveries and recovered function through the journey of diagnosis and treatment.
Dr Neil Gordon
MBBS (Melb.), FRCS (Glasg.), FRCSEd., FRACS, FICS,FRSM. Urologist
Dr. Neil Gordon has been a pioneer in the field of Urology. He moved to Cairns in 1997 after being “head hunted” by medical colleagues. He has practised with an emphasis on the philosophy that people want to be around for “a good time and a long time” and has been able to advance the diagnosis and management of Urological conditions to be comparable with those of the capital cities. His work although centred in Cairns has extended from Weipa, the tip of Cape York to Townsville and internationally to Papua New Guinea.
Dr Gordon has retired from full-time medical practice. Dr Gordon and his team of Deanna and Felicia thank the Cairns and Far North Queensland Community and the Medical Practitioners for their support over the past 27 years along with the support from Papua New Guinea and the visiting Cruise Lines
Publications
Book:
Common Sense Urology, 2007 Bydand Steadfast Publications ,243pp. A guide for General Practitioners, Medical and Nursing Students.
Journals:
Thirty-three international publications on topics such as Bladder Trauma, Congenital Anomalies, Stone Formation, Control of Haemorrhage in Prostate Surgery and extensively on Trans-Urethral Resection of Prostate in Day Surgery as well as calculating and recommending changes in the cost of procedures to reduce the time and money the community spends.
Commonsense Urology
Community Work
Dr. Gordon has given numerous presentations on various topics to community organisations such as Rotary, Lions Clubs and the RSL as well as General Medical Practitioners’ groups. He has appeared in broadcasts on Channel 7 and Channel 9 and been regularly interviewed on local and ABC radio when new technology he had purchased was featured on the news. Dr. Gordon has published regular articles of a general nature in local community magazines on such topics as Prostate Problems, Prostate Cancer, Kidney Stones, Testicular Cancer, Recurrent Infections, Testosterone Therapy, Impotence, Incontinence and Infertility. He featured on the hard cover of Tropical North Queensland Business Men 2014. He also featured in the hard cover publications “Test of Time” in 2014 and 2015.
Nominee Cairns Regional Council Australia Day Award Citizen of the Year 2018.
Pioneering Work
Haemorrhage Control in Surgery
Dr.Gordon developed a method of controlling venous haemorrhage occurring in Transurethral Resection of Prostate surgery. This was published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery Vol: 57, No.7, 1987. This has resulted in the ability to not have to make blood available for possible post-operative blood transfusions and the ability to be able to keep the patients on blood thinners during and after the procedure. The blood thinners are given to reduce the risks of heart attacks, strokes and clots on the lungs. No patients have suffered any of those complications with this routine.
Kidney Stone Treatment
Dr.Gordon was the first Urologist in Australia to carry out Extra Corporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) for kidney stones in Regional Australia. This is a method of treating kidney stones in day-only surgery using a machine which creates sound waves that pass
Freezing Treatment for Prostate Cancer
Dr.Gordon introduced and carried out Prostate Cryotherapy in association with professors who flew from the UK and Israel to facilitate establishment of the treatment. This is a treatment for prostate cancer where the cancer is frozen to “kill it” and is carried out as a 90minute day-surgery procedure as an alternative to patients having to travel 350km from Cairns to Townsville or 1500km to Brisbane for 8weeks for radiation therapy which was not available in Cairns at the time and also as an alternative to major surgery.
Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer
Dr.Gordon also spent two weeks in The Netherlands at Radboud UMC in Nijmegen learning how to interpret and biopsy using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for diagnosis of prostate cancer. He was the first Urologist in the world to obtain the Certificate of MRI Prostate Detection and Biopsy.
Robot Assisted Prostate Biopsy
Dr.Gordon was the first doctor outside the Netherlands to carry out MRI guided prostate biopsy using the Soteria Remote Controlled Manipulator (robot). This is an instrument invented in The Netherlands and provided by Soteria for Dr.Gordon’s use. This procedure was presented with video demonstration at the Prostate Cancer World Congress, Cairns, August 2015; 14th Urological Association of Asia Congress, Singapore, July, 2016 and the Urological Society of Australia & New Zealand, Northern Section, October, 2016.
Presentations at Australian and International Congresses
He has presented research papers at the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meetings, Prostate Cancer World Congress and The Urological Association of Asia in Singapore. His work on Trans-Urethral Resection of Prostate in Day Surgery has been published in the Journal of Urology as well as publications in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Surgery, British Journal of Urology and Australian Medical Journal.
Surgery Funding
Dr. Gordon wrote a paper titled: Costing Transurethral Resection of the Prostate and Diagnosis Related Group in Australia Compared with United States Costs. Published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery Vol: 64, 95-98, 1994. This paper illustrated methods of reducing unnecessary traditional procedures enabling reduced length of stay and better overall results of the procedure.
Major Surgery in a Single Day
Dr.Gordon was the first in Australia to carry out single day-surgery Transurethral Resection of the Prostate and has since carried out more than 1,000 cases. This was published in the American Journal of Urology: Vol:160, 1709-1792, 1998. This has resulted in improvement of patient care and reduced time in hospital from 4-5 days to 1 allowing beds to be available for other patients and reducing costs.
YouTube for Students, Doctors and Nurses
During Covid-19, with restrictions for student attendance at clinics and hospitals, Dr.Gordon made 15 educational YouTube videos.
These videos have had over 55,000 views from an audience in more than 45 countries world wide.These included video segments of surgical procedures, photos, scans and discussions on Urological conditions which had not been previously available. The procedures were all performed on patients in real time rather than mannequins so that the experience is realistic.
Education and teaching
For 25 years, Dr. Gordon has taught Medical and Nursing Students from James Cook University with lectures and tutorials as well as teaching weekly in the operating theatres. Prior to that, he was The Bendigo Hospital Clinician on the teaching staff of The Austin and Repatriation Hospital Campus of the University of Melbourne 1989-1997. In 1988 he was Lecturer, St. Vincent’s Hospital, University of Melbourne. From 1985-1987 Lecturer, Monash University, Prince Henry’s Hospital and the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. In 1984, Senior Lecturer, Adelaide University, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and 1981-1983 Lecturer, Aberdeen and Inverness Hospitals, Aberdeen University, Scotland.
Address
P.O.Box 7787,
Cairns 4870,
Queensland, Australia
Phone
(07) 4041 0700