Live surgeries to highlight new techniques at EAU congress

A full-day agenda of live surgeries directly transmitted tomorrow from operating theaters at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm will kick off the second day of the 29th Annual EAU Congress, which is being held until Tuesday in Sweden’s capital city.

"We hope to demonstrate the various new techniques in several live surgeries which will help urologists provide optimal surgical therapies to their patients. Some of these procedures will be shown live for the first time," said Prof. Jens Rassweiler (Heilbronn, DE) who chairs the EAU Section of Uro-Technology (ESUT).

As in previous annual EAU congresses, ESUT collaborated this year with the EAU Robotic Urology Section (ERUS) and the EAU Section of Urolithiasis (EULIS) to present a three-part Live Surgery programme that will examine a range of surgical procedures ranging from robotic cystectomy, 3D mini laparoscopic pyeloplasty, NBI and digital endoscopies, robotic sacrocolpopexy to iPAD-assisted PCNL.

The Department of Urology of Karolinska Hospital, chaired by Prof. Peter Wiklund, will present surgical cases to be transmitted live from six operating rooms to the main plenary hall of the congress venue at Stockholmsmässan Exhibition and Convention Centre.

The live surgeries have been approved by the EAU Live Surgery Committee (ELSC) and will conform to all rules and ethical conditions required by the committee. The ESUT said it aims to present an actual overview on novel minimally invasive techniques in urology such as the use of 3D-HD-videotechnology for laparoscopic procedures (i.e. partial and radical nephrectomies), the use of miniaturised instruments for laparoscopic and endourologic procedures, and complex robot-assisted surgery.

Rassweiler said it will be the first time that the use of robotic flexible ureteroscopy will be presented and compared to the classical technique. The use of image-guided endoscopic procedures will also be presented such as Narrow Band Imaging (NBI), Storz Professional Image Enhancement System (SPIES)-assisted uretero-renoscopy, NBI –assisted TURB and the bipolar enucleation of the prostate, which will be compared to connective thermal ablation of the gland.

The high-definition broadcast can also be viewed in 3D quality at the session hall. A split-screen will allow meeting delegates and visitors to follow the procedures which will simultaneously run without commentary from the participating surgeons. Moderators in the session hall will, however, provide supplemental information, annotating the procedures as they are broadcasted.