Introduction: Even after many advances in the surgical management of benign prostatic hyperplasia, transurethral resection of the prostate remains the gold standard in no small part due to the Iglesias resectoscope, first invented by Dr. José Iglesias. We sought to bring an unpublished historical record detailing both the early development of the Iglesias resectoscope and also its political influence on Iglesias’s relationship with his native country of Cuba.
Methods: Various urologists who previously worked with Iglesias were interviewed in person or over telephone. Permission was obtained from the urologists who contributed to this project to publish these accounts.
Results: Although the Iglesias resectoscope can be found ubiquitously in modern urology practices, not many know that it facilitated Iglesias's escape from the Castro regime during the Cuban revolution. Iglesias’s passion for urology led him to develop the Iglesias resectoscope, which improved upon the previous, more cumbersome Stern-McCarthy resectoscope in several ways. Instead of requiring two hands to operate, the Iglesias resectoscope only required one hand by implementing a counter force steel spring against the resecting mechanism. He also engineered a continuous irrigation system, allowing the surgeon to resect tissue without intermittently stopping to empty the bladder. With these ingenious improvements, Iglesias naturally enlisted the help of American Cystoscope Manufacturing Inc. (ACMI) to market his product, leading to the widespread adoption we see today. Iglesias was also a physician well-regarded by the Batista government in Cuba. Unfortunately, he soon became entwined within the Cuban Revolution as the Castro regime imprisoned him and other allies of the Batistas. Soon after, the royalties that Iglesias had earned on his resectoscope were forcibly turned over to the Castro government in exchange for his release, leaving him almost penniless afterward. Resilient as ever, Iglesias then moved to New Jersey where he once again began as a urology professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), now known as Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and continued to engineer new scopes for the Karl Storz company. Residents who trained under Iglesias recount that “Boss was a superstar.”
Conclusions: Iglesias made multiple contributions to the field of urology with the invention of the Iglesias resectoscope and its pioneering introduction of continuous flow irrigation. That same resectoscope would also save his life during the Cuban revolution.
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