Urology Beyond Europe: 14 sessions representing urology across six continents
The first day of the EAU’s Annual Congress typically features the “Urology Beyond Europe” sessions, in which experts representing Europe are joined by experts from different parts of the globe. The 39th Annual EAU Congress in Paris is no different and featured 14 session that represented every continent.
Asia was particularly well represented by joint sessions with the Urological Society of India, the Japanese Urological Association, the Iranian Urological Association, the Caucasus/Central Asian countries, the World Chinese Urologists, the Federation of ASEAN Urological Associations, the Pakistan Association of Urological Surgeons and the Korean Urological Association.
Africa was represented by Maghreb Union countries and the Pan-African Urological Surgeons Association together with the Arab Association of Urology (partly representing Asia too). North and South America were represented in session with the Canadian Urological Association and the Confederación Americana de Urología respectively. Two further sessions, with the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand and the worldwide Société Internationale d’Urologie (SIU) round out the sessions.
Each session highlighted topics that were particularly relevant to the societies involved, with talks split between European speakers and speakers affiliated with the respective overseas society. Some featured abstract presentations, some chose to have case discussions or moderated discussions. In any case, these sessions showcase the diversity of urology across the world, and celebrate the EAU’s ties around the globe.
SIU Session: “Next decade of urology”
The well-attended Joint EAU-SIU session, for instance, invited speakers and audience to look ahead into the next ten years and paint a picture of urology in 2034. Paris local Prof. Olivier Traxer spoke about the rapid advances in flexible ureteroscopy only in recent years, and the potential to completely avoid any traditional “cutting for the stone”.
Traxer explained in a potted history lesson that while flexible ureteroscopy is now the dominant technique, “PCNL is still needed at the moment, no discussion. Will we achieve a ‘flex-only’ future by 2034? If the goal is to achieve complete stone removal, there are still some challenges in 2024. Four in particular: residual fragments and challenges with vision after dusting, the rise in temperatures when using ever more powerful lasers, and the increase in intrarenal pressure as a result of irrigation.”
One clear solution, and one that has become much discussed in the 2020s is the application of suction combined with ureteroscopy, whether that’s direct in-scope suction (DISS) or via a suction ureteral access sheath (SUAS). Traxer: “We are achieving excellent lab results, but finding it more difficult to replicate in practice. We will have a lot of new data at EAU25.”
Further talks in this session covered the (future) development of robotics, combined with AI, whether AI could even make biopsies redundant, the potential of out-patient surgery for BPH and the development of the artificial bladder.