Purpose: To propose a scoring system of difficulties for the most currently performed laparoscopic procedures in urology.
Materials and methods: Each current laparoscopic procedure has been evaluated according to three different criteria: technical difficulty, operative risk and the attention required. Each criterion is scored from 1 (minimal impact of the criteria) to 7 (maximal impact of the criteria). The sum of the 3 criteria is used to classify each operation according to an increasing level of global difficulty, classified into 6 levels: easy (E: sum of criteria between 3 and 5), slightly difficult (SD: sum of criteria between 6 and 8), fairly difficult (FD: sum of criteria between 9 and 11), difficult (D: sum of criteria between 12 and 14), very difficult (VD: sum of criteria between 15 and 17), extremely difficult (ED: sum of criteria greater than 18).
Results: Procedures currently performed by laparoscopy have been selected for evaluation according to the above criteria, and retrospectively validated by European experts in laparoscopic urology according to their experience and the international literature.
Conclusion: This proposal of a scoring scale system is a basis for discussion, teaching and learning of urological laparoscopy. By necessity, this scale is evolving and will be regularly reconsidered and updated every 5 years.