Robotic urologic surgery: Past, present and future

The robotic surgery revolution has undoubtedly changed how surgeons’ and patients’ view and perform surgical intervention.While this evolution in surgical technology has affected many surgical fields,it has had the most impact in the field of urologic surgery.Most intra-abdominal surgical procedures in urology are now performed robotically in the United States and Europe.The transition has been gradual due to the high cost of the technology and the associated learning curve.Many regions of the world and lower socioeconomic populations still have limited access due to the economic restraints and healthcare disparities.The hope is that with more competition in the robotic technology space, the advent of new robotic companies will bring these prices down and will reduce the robotic technology healthcare disparities.For the future,I believe that artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality and advanced imaging are the next frontiers that will allow us to learn faster and perform more accurate, safe and successful surgery.The surgical technology revolution is just getting started.

This special edition publication highlights the many urologic operations that can now be performed robotically.It also highlights the increasing high-quality evidence in the field of urology.The authors give a detailed technical description of the robotic procedures, the limitations and the surgical outcomes.The goal was to provide the reader with a broad base of information.I believe the authors have achieved this goal.

The robotic surgery revolution in urology is now over two decades old with strong quality data supporting its continued usage and superiority in many areas.The majority of surgeons in the United States graduating from training are capable robotically and will increase the penetration of robotics even further.This special addition publication highlights the increasing evidence in support of the use of robotic technology in urologic surgery.This publication is especially important as it comes from the progeny of the Global Robotics Institute in Orlando,Florida.The chapters were all written by fellows from our institute who are now leaders globally.My congratulations to them for their successes and my thanks for their continued dedication to their patients.