[Anesthesia in endourological and robot-assisted interventions]

Abstract

The improved drug therapy leads to increasingly older patients with complex comorbidities in the discipline of operative urology. Today, improved technical equipment provides new operational capabilities in the field of urology. The prone and lithotomy position during surgery leads to physiological changes that affect anesthesia management. The surgical risk of procedures such as transurethral surgery of the prostate or bladder is being altered by laser surgery and other new technologies. Although the incidence of transurethral resection (TUR) syndrome has been reduced in recent years, the intrusion of irrigation fluid still has to be considered during anesthesia. Robot-assisted surgery has successfully completed the experimental stage and is widely used so that new targets have to be challenged. Ureterorenoscopy is performed with flexible, small caliber ureteroscopes which even allow treatment of renal calculi under analgosedation within short time periods. Percutaneous nephrostomy and litholapaxy are still frequently performed in the prone position. With respect to the risks arising from patient positioning, supine or lateral positioning should be considered in individual cases. A good communication between the surgeon and anesthetist allows deviation from daily routine procedures if special indications require a modified approach. In conclusion, a profound knowledge of the (patho-)physiology of general anesthesia and endourological diseases enables anesthetists to provide a prospective type anesthesia, which should prevent the occurrence of life-threatening incidents.