Urology through the ages
Diseases of the uro-genital tract are as old as the human species itself. Archaeological findings, as well as the very first writings, indicate that our ancestors were plagued by the same kind of discomforts routinely encountered in modern urological practice. For example, in a 5,000-year-old mummy of a child, a huge bladder stone was found. Circumcision and removal of the penile foreskin was probably the first operation ever performed on a routine basis. The importance of urinary stone disease and the dangers of treating bladder stones were already fully recognised by Hippocrates, `The Father of Medicine`. Hippocrates recognised the importance of the analysis and judgment of human excreta. This started a tradition of many ages of urine-analysis by inspection (uroscopy) and tasting.

In the seventeenth century, Frérè Jacques gained great fame as a `stone-cutter` or `lithotomist`. He travelled through Europe, practising a bladder-stone removal technique that became the golden standard for a long time. Modern urology started off with the development of sophisticated instruments that offered the ability to illuminate the inside of the body. The arrival in the mid-nineteenth century of anaesthesia and surgical techniques, based on thorough knowledge of human anatomy, enabled the treatment of all urological diseases, whether these were afflictions of the kidney, the bladder or the genitalia.

Urology as a distinct specialty dates from 1890, when it became a separate course of study from General Surgery and Felix Guyon became the first Professor of Urology in Paris (France).
At present, urology has developed into a field of medicine in which science, technical developments, diagnostic procedures and invasive as well as non-invasive therapeutic measures have reached the highest level.

The challenges of the future lie in many fields: improvement of the understanding of the development of micturition disorders in apparently healthy patients, or of the causes for urological cancers of the kidney, bladder and prostate; development of techniques to treat urological disease with minimal damage to healthy tissues (the so-called `minimal invasive surgery`); better treatment of common urological diseases, such as benign prostatic enlargement (a disease that affects all men at a certain age) or better treatment of less common but highly impacting malignant diseases, such as kidney, prostate and bladder cancer. For all these reasons, it is good to know that urology is enjoying increasing interest on the part of the general public.

Indeed, urology compasses 8% of all diseases and abnormalities occurring in mankind. Within the course of a lifetime, there is a great chance that everyone will need a urologist and his expertise for advice, treatment and hopefully for the curing of urological diseases. The facts are overwhelming:

• Urological abnormalities comprise close to 50% of all congenital abnormalities, the majority of which are today discovered before birth.
• Urinary tract infection is still the most frequently encountered infectious disease.
• Most of the systemic diseases related to the aging population have direct or indirect urological consequences; these include diabetes, Alzheimer`s disease, Parkinson`s disease, arteriosclerosis, etc.
• Prostate disease today affects 75% of the male population over the age of 50, while benign prostatic hyperplasia is the most common disease in this age group.
• Urological cancers are the leading cause of cancer deaths in the male population, and prostate cancer is the most common malignant disease.
  
  Source - European Eurological Association