Image guided robotic surgery: current evidence for effectiveness in urology

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Discussion of the evolution of image guided surgery (IGS) and its fundamental components and current evidence for effectiveness of IGS in clinical urology. METHODS: Literature search for image-guided robotic urology. RESULTS: Current literature in image-guided robotic urology with its use in robot assisted radical prostatectomy and robot assisted partial nephrectomy are shown. CONCLUSIONS: Image guided surgery can be a useful aid to improve visualisation of anatomy and subsurface structures during minimally invasive surgery. Soft-tissue deformation makes it difficult to implement IGS in urology but current studies have shown an attempt to address this issue. The feasibility of IGS requires randomised control trials assessing in particular its accuracy and affect on clinical outcome.