Robotic urologic surgery: is this the way of the future?

Excerpt

Urologists are a funny breed. We pioneered endoscopic surgery over a century ago, when most other surgical disciplines believed that the bigger the incision, the better the operation. A urology resident, Werner Forssman, was the first individual to catheterize the heart, passing a ureteric catheter through his own brachio-cephalic vein into the right atrium. (Although he belatedly won the Nobel prize, his immediate reward was to be sacked for his foolhardiness.... but that is another story.) With frenetic pace we developed ESWL and percutaneous surgery for stones, thereby converting the bulk of our surgical practice to minimally- or non-invasive surgery. We then ignored the development of laparoscopy by our gynecological brethren, waking up only when the General Surgeons developed laporoscopic cholecystectomy, and then because Ralph Clayman bullied us to doing so. Over 15 years we reluctantly accepted laparoscopic nephrectomy. …