We basically have the most advanced equipment in the world, and we are not lagging behind in surgical technology, said Prof. XIE Liping, President of the International Society of Urology (SIU), President of the 43rd Congress of the International Society of Urology, and Director of the Department of Urology of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (FAHZU). Following his return from the 43rd SIU Congress, he noted that the biggest gap between Chinese urological surgeons and those in developed countries in Europe and the United States lies in the original innovation and effective data accumulation.

Prof. XIE Liping speaks at the 43rd SIU Congress.

At the 42nd SIU Congress in 2022, Prof. XIE Liping was elected president of the International Society of Urology (SIU), becoming the first president of SIU from China in its more than 100 years of history. He is proud that China is now becoming a leader in certain areas of international urology.

Prof. XIE Liping (left) presents the award to the winner at the 43rd SIU Congress.

Previously, Prof. XIE Liping's team conducted a series of original research in minimally invasive surgery for benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). He explained that traditional open surgery for BPH often results in excessive intraoperative bleeding for patients. Even the transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), considered the gold standard for prostate surgery, has issues such as high recurrence rates and excessive intraoperative bleeding in clinical practice.

There is no absolute gold standard in medicine, Prof. Xie remarked. In 2011, he originated new, innovative endoscopic enucleation procedures for patients with BPH, including transurethral vapor enucleation and resection of the prostate (TVERP), transurethral vapor enucleation of the prostate (TVEP) and ultrasound-navigated TVEP/TVERP (US-TVEP/TVERP). These procedures, also known among its peers as button surgery due to the plasma electrode's resemblance to a button,  results in significantly less bleeding, less surgical trauma, and faster post-operative recovery for patients.

Innovation knows no bounds. In 2019, Prof. Xie also originated a series of innovative technologies such as the Dayu Scalpel, a multifunctional device that combines enucleation, coagulation, vaporization, and resection of the prostate, as well as the intelligent Blue Whale tissue morcellating system. These innovations truly achieve bloodless surgery for BPH and promote a more scientific, precise, and easily learned approach to BPH surgery. Consequently, Prof. Xie has been invited multiple times to perform surgeries in Germany, Italy, and other countries. He has also trained a large number of domestic and international urologists in these innovative techniques, benefiting a greater number of patients.

During his tenure as President of the SIU, Prof. Xie has actively promoted the exchange and cooperation between urologists around the world. He aimed to make the SIU an academic community aspired to by urologists globally, serving as a knowledge-sharing platform. He also recommended more Chinese doctors, technologies, and products to go global.

Prof. Xie believes that in the field of urology, the biggest gap between Chinese doctors and those from developed countries is not in technology and equipment, but in original innovation and the accumulation of effective data. He mentioned that doctors in Europe and America place great emphasis on data accumulation, meticulously recording details about each patient, including pre- and post-operative conditions, and publishing papers based on extensive long-term follow-up data. These publications eventually form guidelines that guide the discipline's development and technological advancements.

The amount of urology surgery data in China is the largest in the world, but doctors are so busy with surgery that they rarely collate valid data, Prof. Xie observed.  He believes this is the area where Chinese doctors still have a long way to go.

What impressesProf. Xie most is that the venue for this year's congress is right next to the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, the first trans-oceanic bridge  crossing the Bosphorus and connecting Eurasia.   In his view, Istanbul bridges Europe and Asia. Similarly, the SIU connects Eurasia with the rest of the world, enabling global urologists to communicate more widely and enhance urology diagnosis and treatment for people worldwide.

Correspondent: ZHENG Xiangyi, CHEN Hong, MA Xueyou

Photo: FAHZU Urology

Editor: TIAN Minjie