Abstract
The field of urolithiasis has undergone many rapid changes in the last 3 decades. In this article, three eminent experts in various fields of urolithiasis research describe their respective visions for the future in stone research, stone treatment and surgical training. Many stone researchers have seen and regretted that there has not been a real breakthrough for decades now. Exceptions are the application of citrate prophylaxis and the abandonment of calcium-avoiding diet in stone formers. Certain areas of stone research have been exhausted and the body of literature available should suffice as background knowledge in those. Yet, to find meaningful mechanisms of clinically applicable stone prevention, the limited funds which are currently available should be used to research priority areas, of which crystal–cell interaction is envisioned by one of the present authors as being a crucial direction in future stone research. In the opinion of the second author, surgical stone treatment is very much technology-driven. This applies to the evolution of existing technologies and instruments. In addition, robotics, IT and communication software, and artificial intelligence are promising and are steadily making a meaningful impact in medicine in general, and endourology in particular. Finally, the third author believes that despite the exciting advances in technology, the role of the surgeon can never be replaced. The idea of a fully automated, artificially thinking and robotically performing system treating patients medically and surgically will not appeal to urologists or patients but may at least be a partial reality. His vision therefore is that surgical training will have to take on a new dimension, away from the patient and towards virtual reality, until the skill set is acceptably developed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Yasui T, Iguchi M, Suzuki S, Kohri K (2008) Prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of urolithiasis in Japan: national trends between 1965 and 2005. Urology 71:209–213
Stamatelou KK, Francis ME, Jones CA et al (2003) Time trends in reported prevalence of kidney stones in the United States: 1976–1994. Kidney Int 63:1817–1823
Hesse A, Brändle E, Wilbert D, Köhrmann KU, Alken P (2003) Study on the prevalence and incidence of urolithiasis in Germany comparing the years 1979 vs. 2000. Eur Urol 44:709–713
Trinchieri A, Coppi F, Montanari E, Del Nero A, Zanetti G, Pisani E (2000) Increase in the prevalence of symptomatic upper urinary tract stones during the last ten years. Eur Urol 37:23–25
Robertson WG (1990) Epidemiology of urinary stone disease. Urol Res 18:S3–S8
Curhan GC (2007) Epidemiology of stone disease. Urol Clin N Am 34:287–293
Romero V, Akpinar H, Assimos DG (2010) Kidney stones: a global picture of prevalence, incidence, and associated risk factors. Rev Urol 12(2–3):e86
Sorokin I, Mamoulakis C, Miyazawa K, Rodgers A, Talati J, Lotan Y (2017) Epidemiology of stone disease across the world. World J Urol 35(9):1301–1320
Herring L (1962) Observations on the analysis of ten thousand urinary calculi. J Urol 88:545–562
Gault MH, Chafe L (2000) Relationship of frequency, age, sex, stone weight and composition in 15,624 stones: comparison of results for 1980 to 1983 and 1995 to 1998. J Urol 164:302–307
Daudon M, Bouzidi H, Bazin D (2010) Composition and morphology of phosphate stones and their relation with etiology. Urol Res 38:459–467
Knoll T, Schubert AB, Fahlenkamp D, Leusmann DB, Wendt-Nordahl G, Schubert G (2011) Urolithiasis through the ages: data on more than 200,000 urinary stone analyses. J Urol 185:1304–1311
Sun X, Shen L, Cong X, Zhu H, He L, Lu J (2011) Infrared spectroscopic analysis of 5,248 urinary stones from Chinese patients presenting with the first stone episode. Urol Res 39:339–343
Millán F, Gracia S, Sánchez-Martín FM, Angerri O, Rousaud F, Villavicencio H (2011) A new approach to urinary stone analysis according to the combination of the components: experience with 7,949 cases. Actas Urol Esp 35:138–143
Khan SR, Kok DJ (2004) Modulators of urinary stone formation. Front Biosci 9:1450–1482
Ryall RL (2010) The possible roles of inhibitors, promoters, and macromolecules in the formation of calcium kidney stones. In: Rao NP, Preminger GM Kavanagh JP eds Urinary tract stone disease. Springer, London, pp 31–60
Aggarwal KP, Narula S, Kakkar M, Tandon C (2013) Nephrolithiasis: molecular mechanism of renal stone formation and the critical role played by modulators. Biomed Res Int. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/292953
Kok DJ, Khan SR (1994) Calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis, a free or fixed particle disease. Kidney Int 46:847–854
Hess B, Kok DJ (1996) Nucleation, growth and aggregation of stone-forming crystals. In: Coe FL, Favus MJ, Pak CYC, Parks JH, Preminger GM (eds) Kidney stones: medical and surgical management. Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia, pp 3–32
Rodgers AL (2014) Urinary saturation: casual or causal risk factor in urolithiasis? BJU Int 114:104–110
Khan SR (2006) Renal tubular damage/dysfunction: key to the formation of kidney stones. Urol Res 34:86–91
Evan AP, Worcester EM, Coe FL, Williams J, Lingeman JE (2015) Mechanisms of human kidney stone formation. Urolithiasis 43:19–32
Sheng X, Jung T, Wesson JA, Ward MD (2005) Adhesion at calcium oxalate crystal surfaces and the effect of urinary constituents. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 102:267–272
Sakhaee K (2009) Recent advances in the pathophysiology of nephrolithiasis. Kidney Int 75:585–595
Tiselius H-G (2011) A hypothesis of calcium stone formation: an interpretation of stone research during the past decades. Urol Res 39:231–243
Coe FL, Evan AP, Worcester EM, Lingeman JE (2010) Three pathways for human kidney stone formation. Urol Res 38:147–160
Robertson WG (2015) Potential role of fluctuations in the composition of renal tubular fluid through the nephron in the initiation of Randall’s plugs and calcium oxalate crystalluria in a computer model of renal function. Urolithiasis 43(Suppl 1):93–107
Rodgers A, Allie-Hamdulay S, Jackson G, Tiselius H-G (2011) Simulating calcium salt precipitation in the nephron using chemical speciation. Urol Res 39:245–251
Rassweiler J, Rassweiler MC, Frede T, Alken P (2014) Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy: an opinion on its future. Indian J Urol 30:73–79
Méndez-Probst CE, Fernadez A, Erdeljan P, Vanjecek M, Cadieux PA, Razvi H (2011) Third prize: the impact of fluid environment manipulation on shockwave lithotripsy artificial calculi fragmentation rates. J Endourol 25:397–401
Kronenberg P, Somani B (2018) Advances in lasers for the treatment of stones—a systematic review. Curr Urol Rep 19:45
Cloutier J, Cordeiro ER, Kamphuis GM, Villa L, Letendre J, de la Rosette JJ, Traxer O (2014) The glue-clot technique: a new technique description for small calyceal stone fragments removal. Urolithiasis 42:441–444
Siddiquia KM, Albala DM (2016) Robotic-assisted surgery and treatment of urolithiasis. Int J Surg 36:673–675
Stoianovici D, Cadeddu JA, Demaree RD, Basile SA, Taylor RH, Whitcomb LL et al (1997) An efficient needle injection technique and radiological guidance method for percutaneous procedures. In: Proceedings 1st joint conference; CRVMed II & MRCAS III, Grenoble. pp. 295–298
Lazarus J, Williams J (2011) The locator: novel percutaneous nephrolithotomy apparatus to aid collecting system puncture—a preliminary report. J Endourol 25:747–750
Chowdhury PS, Nayak P, David D, Mallick S (2017) Mini access guide to simplify calyceal access during percutaneous nephrolithotomy: a novel device. Indian J Urol 33:319–322
Zarrabi AD, Conradie JP, Heyns CF, Scheffer C, Schreve K (2010) Development of a computer assisted gantry system for gaining rapid and accurate calyceal access during percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Int Braz J Urol 36:738–746
Chau HL, Chan HC, Li TB, Cheung MH, Lam KM, So HS (2016) An innovative free-hand puncture technique to reduce radiation in percutaneous nephrolithotomy using ultrasound with navigation system under magnetic field: a single-center experience in Hong Kong. J Endourol 30:160–164
Mozer P, Conort P, Leroy A, Baumann M, Payan Y, Troccaz J et al (2007) Aid to percutaneous renal access by virtual projection of the ultrasound puncture tract onto fluoroscopic images. J Endourol 21:460–465
Cadeddu JA, Bzostek A, Schreiner S, Barnes AC, Roberts WW, Anderson JH et al (1997) A robotic system for percutaneous renal access. J Urol 158:1589–1593
Su LM, Stoianovici D, Jarrett TW, Patriciu A, Roberts WW, Cadeddu JA et al (2002) Robotic percutaneous access to the kidney: comparison with standard manual access. J Endourol 16:471–475
Stoianovici D, Cleary K, Patriciu A, Mazilu D et al AcuBot (2003) A robot for radiological interventions. IEEE Trans Robot Autom 19:926–930
Solomon SB, Patriciu A, Bohlman ME, Kavoussi LR et al (2002) Robotically driven interventions: a method of using CT fluoroscopy without radiation exposure to the physician. Radiology 225:277–282
Stoianovici D, Kim C, Petrisor D, Jun C, Lim S, Ball MW, Ross A, Macura KJ, Allaf M (2017) MR safe robot, FDA clearance, safety and feasibility prostate biopsy clinical trial. IEEE ASME Trans Mechatron 22(1):115–126
Oo MM, Gandhi HR, Chong KT, Goh JQ, Ng KW, Hein AT, Tan YK (2018) Automated needle targeting with X-ray (ANT-X)—robot-assisted device for percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) with its first successful use in human. J Endourol. https://doi.org/10.1089/end.2018.0003 (Epub ahead of print)
Ritter M, Rassweiler MC, Michel MS (2015) The Uro Dyna-CT enables three-dimensional planned laser-guided complex punctures. Eur Urol 68:880–884
Jiao D, Zhang Z, Sun Z, Wang Y, Han X (2018) Percutaneous nephrolithotripsy: C-arm CT with 3D virtual navigation in non-dilated renal collecting systems. Diagn Interv Radiol 24:17–22
Huber J, Wegner I, Meinzer HP et al (2011) Multimedia article. Navigated renal access using electromagnetic tracking: an initial experience. Surg Endosc 25:1307–1312
Bauer J, Lee BR, Stoianovici D, Bishoff JT, Micali S, Micali F et al (2001) Remote percutaneous renal access using a new automated telesurgical robotic system. Telemed J E Health 7:341–346
García-Cruz E, Bretonnet A, Alcaraz A (2018) Testing smart glasses in urology: clinical and surgical potential applications. Actas Urol Esp 42:207–211
Teber D, Guven S, Simpfendörfer T, Baumhauer M, Güven EO, Yencilek F, Gözen AS, Rassweiler J (2009) Augmented reality: a new tool to improve surgical accuracy during laparoscopic partial nephrectomy? Preliminary in vitro and in vivo results. Eur Urol 56:332–338
Nakamura K, Naya Y, Zenbutsu S et al (2010) Surgical navigation using three-dimensional computed tomography images fused intraoperatively with live video. J Endourol 24:521–524
Rodrigues PL, Rodrigues NF, Fonseca J, Lima E, Vilac JL (2013) Kidney targeting and puncturing during percutaneous nephrolithotomy: recent advances and future perspectives. J Endourol 27:826–834
Radecka E, Brehmer M, Holmgren K, Palm G, Magnusson P, Magnusson A (2006) Pelvicaliceal biomodeling as an aid to achieving optimal access in percutaneous nephrolithotripsy. J Endourol 20:92–101
Bruyère F, Leroux C, Brunereau L, Lermusiaux P (2008) Rapid prototyping model for percutaneous nephrolithotomy training. J Endourol 22:91–96
Bui D, Mach KE, Zlatev DV, Rouse RV, Leppert JT, Liao JC (2015) A pilot study of in vivo confocal laser endomicroscopy of upper tract urothelial carcinoma. J Endourol 29:1418–1423
Balog J, Sasi-Szabó L, Kinross J, Lewis MR, Muirhead LJ, Veselkov K, Mirnezami R, Dezső B, Damjanovich L, Darzi A, Nicholson JK, Takáts Z (2013) Intraoperative tissue identification using rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry. Sci Transl Med 5:194
Turing AM (1950) Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind 59:433–460
Ramesh AN, Kambhampati C, Monson JRT, Drew PJ (2004) Artificial intelligence in medicine. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 86:334–338
Pappas Y, Anandan C, Liu J, Car J, Sheikh A, Majeed (2011) A Computer-assisted history-taking systems (CAHTS) in health care: benefits, risks and potential for further development. Inform Prim Care 19:155–160
Cahan A, Cimino JJ (2017) A learning health care system using computer-aided diagnosis. J Med Internet Res 19:e54
Voran D (2015) Telemedicine and beyond. Mo Med 112:129–135
Choi PJ, Oskouian RJ, Tubbs RS (2018) Telesurgery: past, present, and future. Cureus 10:e2716
Kampmeijer R, Pavlova M, Tambor M, Golinowska S, Groot W (2016) The use of e-health and m-health tools in health promotion and primary prevention among older adults: a systematic literature review. BMC Health Serv Res 16(Suppl 5):290
Bandodkar AJ, Wang J (2014) Non-invasive wearable electrochemical sensors: a review. Trends Biotechnol 32:363–371
Kok DJ (2016) The preventive treatment of recurrent stone-formation: how can we improve compliance in the treatment of patients with recurrent stone disease? Urolithiasis 44:83–90
Sen V, Aydogdu O, Yonguc T, Bozkurt IH, Bolat D (2016) Telerounding & telementoring for urological procedures. Arch Ital Urol Androl 88:206–207
Ahmed K, Amer T, Challacombe B, Jaye P, Dasgupta P, Khan MS (2011) How to develop a simulation programme in urology. BJU Int 108:1698–1702
Sweet RM, Hananel D, Lawrenz F (2010) A unified approach to validation, reliability, and education study design for surgical technical skills training. Arch Surg 145:197–201
Ather MH, Ng CF, Pourmand G, Osther PJ (2014) Training the resident in percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Arab J Urol 12:49–53
de la Rosette JJ, Laguna MP, Rassweiler JJ, Conort P (2008) Training in percutaneous nephrolithotomy–a critical review. Eur Urol 54:994–1003
Raza SJ, Soomroo KQ, Ather MH (2011) “Latex glove” laparoscopic pyeloplasty model: a novel method for simulated training. J Urol 8:283–286
Inoue T, Okada S, Hamamoto S, Matsuda T (2017) New advanced bench model for flexible ureteroscopic training: the smart simulator. J Endourol. https://doi.org/10.1089/end.2017.0430
Al-Jabir A, Aydin A, Abe T, Raison N, Khan MS, Dasgupta P, Ahmed K (2017) Validation of the advanced scope trainer for flexible ureterorenoscopy training. Urology 110:45–50
van der Poel H, Brinkman W, van Cleynenbreugel B, Kallidonis P, Stolzenburg JU, Liatsikos E, Ahmed K, Brunckhorst O, Khan MS, Do M, Ganzer R, Murphy DG, Van Rij S, Dundee PE, Dasgupta P (2016) Training in minimally invasive surgery in urology: European Association of Urology/International Consultation of Urological Diseases consultation. BJU Int 117:515–530
Hull L, Arora S, Aggarwal R, Darzi A, Vincent C, Sevdalis N (2012) The impact of nontechnical skills on technical performance in surgery: a systematic review. J Am Coll Surg 214:214–230
Mazzocco K, Petitti DB, Fong KT, Bonacum D, Brookey J, Graham S, Lasky RE, Sexton JB, Thomas EJ (2009) Surgical team behaviors and patient outcomes. Am J Surg 197:678–685
Buchholz N (2017) The cooperation between urologists and nephrologists (video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTldLOURb6g. Accessed 16th Oct 2018
Hess B (2017) Renal stone clinic survey: calcium stone formers’ self-declared understanding of and adherence to physician’s recommendations. Urolithiasis 45(4):363–370
Raffin EP, Penniston KL, Antonelli JA, Viprakasit DP, Averch TD, Bird VG, Chew BH, Sivalingam S, Sur RL, Nakada SY, Pais VM Jr (2018) The effect of thiazide and potassium citrate use on the health related quality of life of patients with urolithiasis. J Urol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2018.06.023
Funding
This study received no funding from any source.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
All authors declare no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors
Additional information
U-merge Ltd. (Urology in Emerging Countries) is an academic urological platform dedicated to facilitate knowledge transfer in urology on all levels from developed to emerging countries. U-merge Ltd. is registered with the Companies House in London/ UK.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rodgers, A., Trinchieri, A., Ather, M.H. et al. Vision for the future on urolithiasis: research, management, education and training—some personal views. Urolithiasis 47, 401–413 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00240-018-1086-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00240-018-1086-2