Percutaneous interventional uroradiology

In the recent past, intervention in the urinary tract was the sole domain of the urological surgeon or the general surgeon with an interest in urology. With the advance of radiologically-guided interventional techniques, the approach is now multidisciplinary, involving surgeons, radiologists and pathologists. Some traditional methods of treating common urological complaints are now defunct. The implications of this are profound. They include shorter hospital inpatient stays, less use of general anaesthesia, easier planned patient management and, above all, decreased cost of patient treatment. Both patient morbidity and mortality have been reduced and, on the whole, the procedures are more acceptable. Technology is advancing rapidly and newly acquired skills are often rather short-lived as primary therapeutic tools. For instance, extracorporeal lithotripters have reduced the demand for percutaneous nephrolithotomy, but such skills must still be practised and perfected for the treatment of complications and...