[Robotic renal surgery: pyeloplasty]

The treatment of ureteropyelic junction (UPJ) obstruction offers a perfect sketch of the parallel evolution of the availability of technology and changes in surgical proceedings. From the open Anderson-Hynes pyeloplasty, passing through percutaneous or retrograde endopyelothomy with various instruments, to the laparoscopic approach, technology and human talent have found a field for development in this reconstructive procedure. Robotic surgery is young and starts to define its role in urology surgery. There are established procedures such as radical prostatectomy; it remains to be established what operations will benefit from the robotic technology, so results are under continuous evaluation. The non stopping advance of computer technology guarantees future achievements of robotic technology. The objective is to achieve that surgeons could perform difficult surgical procedures with a level of accuracy and clinical results that would be difficult to achieve with conventional methods. We analyze the technical features, results and comparative studies of the robotic pyeloplasty from the medical literature. Robotic surgery has demonstrated its usefulness in the performance of pyeloplasties, with good results in primary and secondary UPJ stenosis in children and adults, in various aetiologies. Robotics enables to diminish the difficulties of intracorporeal suture and the learning curve for surgeons without laparoscopic experience. Nevertheless, although initial clinical experience with robotic pyeloplasty is favourable, continuous evaluation of results is necessary to determine if the surgical procedure is as effective in the long-term as laparoscopic and open pyeloplasty.