What is urology?

Surgical treatment

Operational techniques can be either endoscopic or surgical. In the case of endoscopic procedures, the operator inserts an endoscope into natural openings in the body – in the case of urology, this is the urethra – and uses it to access the area in question. This makes it possible, for instance, to remove tumours from the bladder, to shrink the prostate, or to take out stones from the urinary tract, using a minimally invasive technique.

Surgical techniques involve accessing the diseased organ via an incision. A distinction is made between classic open-surgery interventions (‘with scalpel and hands’) and minimally invasive procedures. The disadvantage of the open technique is that the resulting incision leaves behind significant scarring that can prolong or complicate the recovery process.

Minimally invasive techniques make use either of conventional or robotically assisted laparoscopy. The conventional method uses a camera and special long-stem instruments, which are inserted into the body through small incisions. The surgeon stands directly beside the patient and controls his activities by means of the image captured by the camera. The disadvantage of this is that movements are restricted due to the nature of the instruments used.
This disadvantage can be avoided by employing robotically assisted laparoscopy. At our clinic, we use a surgical robot of the latest generation, produced by Intuitive Surgery (da Vinci^® XI HD).
You will find further information about this here.