[Recent advances of urological laparoscopic surgery in Japan]

Urologic laparoscopic surgeries started with varicocelectomies, pelvic lymphadenectomies and nephrectomies in 1989-90. According to the nation-wide survey in Japan, the percentages of surgeries performed laparoscopically are 43, 17 and 21% among all adrenalectomies, radical nephrectomies and partial nephrectomies, respectively. The incidence of complications and open conversion reduced significantly during these 20 years from 9.7 to 5.3% and from 5.2 to 2.6%, respectively. The perioperative mortality rate among 25,393 urologic laparoscopic surgeries was 0.047%. A surgical robot, da Vinci was accepted by the Japanese Government in 2009. Robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgeries and laparoendoscopic single-site surgeries will be the major progress in Japan.