Cirugía laparoscópica en urología: breve reseña histórica y estado actual del arte

Urological surgery has an unsuspected age. The laparoscopic approach has been in the specialty's armamentarium since its beginnings. But only in recent decades and thanks to the great technological development in images and instruments, is that it has been almost routinely introduced into urological practice. The benefits of laparoscopy are unquestionable and the evidence shows that the tendency to perform surgeries in this way will be greater every time. The advent of robot assisted laparoscopic surgery in recent years has allowed surgeons to implement this approach for more complex surgeries, which seemed impossible to perform otherwise than by open surgery. The purpose of this review is to describe with a historical perspective the development of minimally invasive surgery in urology and its main applications today.