4th Meeting Endourology and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Sofia, Bulgaria, 25-26 April, 2013

EULIS supported the 4th Meeting “Endourology and Minimally Invasive Surgery” held on 25-26th April 2013 in Sofia, Bulgaria and dedicated to “Urolithiasis – diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment, metaphylaxis”. The meeting was organized by the EAU Section of Urolithiasis (EULIS), Military Medical Academy, the Bulgarian Association of Endourology and SWL and the Bulgarian Association of Urology.

The scientific programme of the meeting included live-surgery sessions, state-of-the-art lectures, case discussions and poster sessions focused on the contemporary aspects of epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment and methaphylaxis of stone disease presented by an international and Bulgarian faculty. The live-surgery sessions included demonstrations on Mini-PCNL in prone position, ureterorenoscopy and retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS), endoscopic combined intrarenal surgery (ECIRS) in supine position, performed at the Department of Urology and Nephrology, Military Medical Academy-Sofia, with real time audio and video feed between the operating room and the conference room. The state-of-the-art lectures, case discussions and live-surgery sessions were presented by an international renowned faculty including Prof. Kemal Sarica, Prof. Sven Lahme, Prof. Andreas Skolarikos, Prof. Giovanni Gambaro as well as Bulgarian and Macedonian professors of urology, nephrology and radiology working in the field of urolithiasis. The scientific programme gave practical insights on the different aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of  urolithiasis. Prof. Gambaro presented a state-of-the-art lecture focused on the mission of EULIS in promoting dialogue, research and education into all aspects of stone disease and the importance of the multidisciplinary approach in the treatment of our patients.

The meeting was attended by more than 100 participants working in the field of urology and nephrology, coming from Bulgaria and Macedonia. The scientific programme elicited a positive feedback and great interest from the participants. The young urologists and nephrologists appreciated the opportunity to enhance their knowledge on stone disease and to learn “tips and tricks” from some of the leading experts in the field of urolithiasis.

“It has been a very successful meeting on stone disease and I would like to thank EULIS for participating in this event. With the kind help of EULIS, in my opinion, we achieved our goal to promote the multidisciplinary approach and minimally invasive treatment of urolithiasis among Bulgarian urologists and nephrologists. I’m very happy that many young doctors attended the meeting and had the opportunity to learn from renowned experts in stone disease. We hope to have the opportunity to organize more events of this kind in the future”, said Prof. I. Saltirov, chairman and organizer of the meeting.

“It was a very well organized meeting focused on the contemporary treatment of stone disease. In my opinion, this format of the meeting was beneficial to the participants, because they had the opportunity to discuss clinical cases with urolithiasis during the live-surgery sessions and the case discussion session.” commented Prof. Kemal Sarica, Vice-Chairman of EULIS.