Expert discusses emerging technologies, AI and BPH treatment

In this video, Dean S. Elterman, MD, MSc, FRCSC, gives his perspective on the role of emerging technologies like robotic surgery and artificial intelligence in the future of minimally invasive benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment. Elterman is an associate professor of urology at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada.

Transcription:

What is your perspective on the role of emerging technologies like robotic surgery and artificial intelligence in the future of minimally invasive BPH treatment?

We've definitely made a lot of strides with respect to minimally invasive treatments, to allowing men to return to work sooner, and have a safer and better side effect profile. What we're really trying to see now is this integration of imaging and using it with respect to AI and planning. When we do old-fashioned surgeries or even modern surgeries, we kind of think we know where the device is going. We open up the prostate, or we resect or we remove tissue without really seeing. We're starting to see now techniques or technologies like Aquablation, for example, where you can see the prostate live with an ultrasound. And then, of course, you could think further, where you're taking multiple images to create machine learning and social intelligence to help create the plan. So ultimately, we're going to see more and more technologies that come out that will be able to customize, really, by scanning through the prostate, taking some imaging, and create a plan as to what prostate tissue should be removed, what prostate tissue should be left behind; ie, to preserve sexual function, ejaculation. And we're going to see more of these types of technologies come out both respect to diagnostics, which is also a really interesting area, like urodynamics, but also the the surgeries that we're going to be doing.

This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.