AUA 2007 Recap for Intuitive Surgical

This past week, Intuitive Surgical participated in the 2007 AUA (American Urological Association) Meeting held in Anaheim, California. As noted, this years AUA Meeting was clearly the most prominent in the history of Intuitive Surgical.

We had a very strong showing with increased booth & program activities, higher visibility amongst leading academic & community urologists, 5 “Live” broadcasted da Vinci Procedures (including a formal AUA Satellite Live 3-D Broadcast) and a record attendance on the exhibit floor.

It was very clear that da Vinci Urology Procedures, such as dVP, are becoming routinely adopted across a larger audience of both urologists and hospitals. The ISI theme this year was focused on da Vinci Prostatectomy – “The Fastest Growing Treatment for Prostate Cancer”, the launch of da Vinci Nephrectomy & the promotion of da Vinci S with HD (High Definition) This theme was promoted through the showing of “Live” Telesurgery, Continuous HD narrated & unedited 3-D video, New Clinical Data, New Robotic Techniques, & New Upcoming Instrumentation.
Key Highlights:
3 – AUA Sanctioned Robotic Courses focused on da Vinci Urological Procedures. Over 200 urologists paid and attended these courses
2 – AUA Sanctioned “Lunch with the Experts” Programs covering: Techniques, Maximizing Outcomes, & Getting Started with da Vinci in Your Practice
78 – Moderated Abstracts: (This was an increase of 279% over 2006. Abstracts in 2006 were 28). 2007 AUA Abstracts covered: dVP, da Vinci Pyeloplasty, da Vinci Cystectomy, da Vinci Nephrectomy, & others
AUA Plenary Presentation: Dr. Pat Casale (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) gave an outstanding State-of-the ART Lecture presentation to an audience of more than 1,000 attendees titled, “The Application of Robotics in Pediatric Urology”. Dr. Casale showed the da Vinci System as a valuable tool for the Pediatric Urologist. Procedure talking points and video clips covered da Vinci Pyeloplasty, Ureteral Reimplantation, Appendicovesicostomy, & several other reconstructive urological procedures.
This year the AUA & ISI held a Hands-On Course, where da Vinci Pediatric Urology procedures were featured utilizing 3 surgical stations (2 with da Vinci Systems & and 1 with computerized simulation from Mimic) . 40 urologists paid and attended this course. This course was taught by Dr. Craig Peters (University of Virginia), Dr. Pat Casale (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia), & Dr. Thomas Lendvay (Seattle Children’s Hospital)
ISI Booth Presentations: Booth Presentations covered da Vinci Prostatectomy, da Vinci Nephrectomy & Partial Nephrectomy w/ 3-D HD Video, da Vinci Pyeloplasty, & da Vinci Cystectomy.
5 exceptional “Live” Telesurgery Broadcasts (4 -dVP and 1-dVN) drew packed crowds of hundreds to the ISI Booth & accompanied Satellite Program.
Dr. Ash Tewari (Cornell University) performed a beautiful bilateral Nerve-sparing dVP in a swift 60 minutes (console time) to an audience of 150+ urologists. His anastomosis time was under 5 minutes using da Vinci. This surgery was moderated by Dr. Peter Carroll (University of California San Francisco), Dr. Dave Albala (Duke University), Dr. Robert Meyers (Mayo Clinic Rochester) & Dr. Dan Barocas (Cornell University).
Dr. Ingolf Tuerk (Lahey Clinic) performed an impressive extra-peritoneal dVP (First ever broadcasted dVP technique to AUA). The moderator was Dr. John Libertino (Chair of Urology, Lahey Clinic).
Dr. Domenico Savatta (Newark Beth Israel Medical Center) performed a very efficient da Vinci Nephrectomy to a large audience utilizing the da Vinci S System. (First ever broadcasted dVN to AUA). This surgery was moderated by Dr. Jay Yew (Sharp Memorial Healthcare – San Diego)
Dr. Randy Fagin (Westlake Hospital) performed a 4-arm Bilateral Nerve-sparing dVP in a quick 60 minutes (console time) to an audience of 150+ urologists. This surgery was moderated by Dr. Naveen Kella (Georgia Urology)
Dr. Timothy Wilson (City of Hope National Medical Center) performed a 4-arm Bilateral Nerve-Sparing & Endopelvic Fascia Sparing dVP to a large group of curious urologists. City of Hope has now performed over 2,300 dVP procedures. This surgery was moderated by Dr. David Josephson (City of Hope).
Source: email end of May


It is obvious to most robotic surgeons now that most prostatectomies will be done robotically in the near future. In the next 12 months dvP will likely replace open rrp as the most common prostate cancer operation.

It will be interesting to see how many other procedures will be done robotically in the future.