A lot more happened on the second day of the inaugural International Conference on Endourology in Rome. We spoke to three of the day’s key figures for their impressions of how this new meeting is progressing.
Semi-live surgery moderator Prof. Cecilia Cracco (Turin, IT)
Prof. Cracco co-moderated Semi-Live Session II together with Dr. Joyce Baard (Amsterdam, NL), featuring six different procedures demonstrated in “as-live” conditions. How did this new format go down in the full session room?
“Today we saw a very realistic depiction of surgery, not some cherry-picked perfect video cases. I have to compliment Dr. Davide Perri, giving us a very real case. This really was the essence of a semi-live case: you encounter difficulties and you have to show them.”
“Dr. Perri was struggling for several minutes to do a good puncture, but his patient’s kidney was hypermobile and rotating. Not only hypermobile in one dimension but rotating completely, changing the 3D disposition of the calyces, making puncture very difficult. Davide did great, the audience was even applauding when he succeeded.”
Prof. Cracco and Dr. Baard listen to Dr. Peppi as he narrates his procedure while he struggled to make a successful puncture.
“This is the meaning of the semi-live. It is like live, but you are not performing in front of an audience and the patient is not affected by your anxiety. Of course there are very experienced people who perform live surgery without any issues, they focus completely on the patient, they don’t mind the audience, they answer questions like they would for residents in the OR. Others might be overloaded by stress and anxiety. Then they cannot address the audience in an educational way either.”
“In future we can improve this kind of session further when the moderators are more aware of the details of the case so that they know what to focus on when switching between the procedures, I have already suggested this to the organisers. It’s nice to see we can come up with new formats.”
One of the ‘Titans’: Prof. Vineet Gauhar (Singapore, SG)
Prof. Gauhar, together with four other challengers is participating in the “Best Endourologist 2025 – Clash of the Titans” sessions at ICE25. This new format challenges five endourologists to present on a previously unknown topic after 90 minutes of preparation with no access to their files or to the internet. The audience then determines the victor. Today’s topic was “endourological management in the non-index kidney stone publication: Where innovation meets evidence” and each contestant gave their own spin to the topic based on their knowledge and experience.
“We were all very nervous ahead of time (I certainly was!) but it became absolute anxiety once the topics were announced and we had our 90 min. We were then eventually quite comfortable. The audience’s enthusiasm is obvious, they clapped for us, I thought they might have booed us. The first day was more unnerving than second.”
Prof. Traxer grills Dr. Gauhar following his presentation.
“I think this is a really good initiative. It’s always fun to do something new, and making it objective an process was good. It really makes you rethink how dependent we have become not on using our brains but the internet. I must complement the ICE organisers for coming up with something interesting like this.”
“I am not yet quite sure if this format is the best way to offer interesting presentations in a setting like this: most surgeons are accustomed to doing certain surgeries, and they are not keen to do other things and might not have as much to say on every topic. We as contestants are all quite senior and we tend to lose touch.”
“We did not yet see any of the others’ presentations. There is no bias in this. We did have a conversation after the second round with Profs. Somani and Traxer and they said each of us had a different approach and perspective, and that’s what took them by surprise. The audience was thrilled to see different dimensions of the same topic being presented. Our nationalities, the regions where we work affect us. In that way we represent endourology in total.”
“We will find out tomorrow who won. I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed!”
Section Office Chair and endourologist: Prof. Thomas Knoll (Sindelfingen, DE)
This is the first edition of a new meeting, which managed to attract over 1000 participants from 80 countries. How does the EAU Section Office chair look at this?
“I must say I’m absolutely overwhelmed with the positive response and the attendance figures. The attendees are happy, the many participating companies are happy, and everyone loves the concept very much.”
“To have a unified endo-uro-technology meeting, this concept has existed for a long time, not just in my head but many. I must congratulate everyone on making it a reality: the Endourology Section under Prof. Traxer, Congress Consultants, the EAU Central Office, and especially the EAU Executive who believed we could do it.”
“It really is the first of its kind, so you never know what to expect. Having 6-700 participants would have already been a success, but only in my wildest dreams did I think we would cross 1000.”
Prof. Knoll was on hand to open the Conference on behalf of the EAU Board and the Section Office.
“Despite having some predecessors, what makes this meeting is the first of its kind, and what makes this a success? A key difference is that one single EAU Section and steering group organises (with the involvement of many other parties of course). In past we had ESUT alternating with EULIS, then putting them together at UROtech, but it’s still two sections and it’s always easier with one steering group. That facilitated the success a lot.”
“As an endourologist myself: it’s amazing, the conference has everything you would be interested in. All the latest topics, be it in the realms of surgery, new technology, not just stones but BPH, laparoscopy, focal therapy, and AI. For endourologists, this is the place to be. And next year, the place to be will be in Valencia where we will hopefully have a venue suitable for even more participants!”
