[Robotically assisted urologic endoscopic surgery].
OBJECTIVE
Comprehensive evaluation of surgical procedures remains the cornerstone of quality control. Robotic surgery has become a popular surgical option in urology. We review the English medical literature on urological robot-assisted endoscopic surgery (URAES) in order to assess the trends of medical publications regarding this subject.


METHODS
All Studies addressing URAES were included. Information for this review was obtained by Pub Med searches from 2003 to 2008. Keywords used in our search included: "robotic urologic surgery", "robotic assisted urological surgery". Only articles published in English were included in this review.


RESULTS
We identified 383 studies. 366 articles corresponded to clinical series of different topics regarding robotics in urology; 13 articles presented comparisons of robotic surgery versus either pure laparoscopic or open surgery in urological procedures such as radical cistectomy (1), radical prostatectomy (10) and pyeloplasty (2). Four studies corresponded to randomized control trials, addressing robotic telerounding (2), kidney percutaneous access (1) and camera holding devices for endoscopic surgery (1).


CONCLUSIONS
URAES is an emerging surgical option for urological operations like radical prostatectomy, pyeloplasty and radical cystectomy. There is lack of high-level evidence information to support the idea of robotic surgery as the upcoming surgical gold standard in urology. Surgical evolution will favour the potential benefits of robotic technology, but there is need for design and performance of prospective randomized trials in robotic urologic surgery in order to consolidate the application of this novel technology.
Castillo
Octavio
O
Departamento de Urología, Clínica INDISA, Santiago. Chile. octaviocastillo@vtr.net
Javier Ahualli
Carlos
C
Sánchez-Salas
Rafael
R
Vidal
Ivar
I
Campos
Rodrigo
R
Feria-Flores
Miguel
M
Sepúlveda
Francisco
F
D004724:Endoscopy; D006801:Humans; D012371:Robotics; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*