Dr. Donald Sonn

A Remarkable Technology

Dr. Donald Sonn is a physician and urologist who practices at the Urology Group of Western New England in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is a 1991 graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University.

He is trained in using the GreenLight HPS laser for treating Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, or BPH, an enlarged prostate gland. "It's a remarkable technology," Dr. Donald Sonn said. GreenLight Laser Therapy allows him to treat the condition with a small fiber that is inserted into the patient's urethra through a cystoscope. He says that the fiber delivers laser energy that heats up the prostate tissue and actually vaporizes it.

Advocates like Dr. Donald Sonn say that GreenLight Laser Therapy is as effective as the traditional way of treating BPH, but with fewer side effects. "With the GreenLight laser, it's outpatient," he says. "They can actually go home the same day." In most cases an overnight stay in the hospital is not necessary, and when it is it is often because the patient has other medical conditions, or is frail.

Many physicians, like Dr. Donald Sonn, are enthusiastic about GreenLight Laser Therapy as a treatment for BPH. They say that while the surgery is best done in an operating room, it can be done with a spinal anesthesia, a regional anesthesia sometimes called a spinal block. A general anesthesia is sometimes used. There is no blood loss, and in some cases patients are able to go home without a catheter.
Dr. Donald Sonn completed a Surgical Residency and a Urology Residency at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in 1997.