The importance of laparoscopic surgery for young urologists remains unwavering even in the era of robot-assisted surgery

Abstract

Robot-assisted surgery (RAS) cannot be achieved without the performance of laparoscopic surgical techniques by a patient-side surgeon (PSS). In many medical institutions in Japan, young urologists often take on the role of a PSS. Participating in RAS as a PSS provides a good opportunity to acquire not only the knowledge necessary for surgery, but also skills in laparoscopic surgical techniques. Learning laparoscopic surgery as a PSS may contribute to improving the quality of RAS. Furthermore, it will lead to skill improvement as an operator in laparoscopic surgery. However, notably, opportunities for young urologists to perform laparoscopic surgery are decreasing in the current era of RAS. Under these circumstances, we believe that cadaver surgical training will become increasingly important in the future. We believe that performance of cadaver surgical training will contribute to increased motivation, enhance the understanding of surgical procedures, and facilitate the acquisition of surgical techniques.

Keywords: fresh-frozen cadaver surgical training; laparoscopic surgery; robot-assisted surgery; surgical education.