The Contribution of Irish Urology to Clinical Practice

PURPOSE Historically, Irish doctors have made significant contributions to Medicine and Surgery including Colles, Graves, and Corrigan. Herein, we detail the contribution of Irish people to Urology. MATERIALS AND METHODS Internet, specific Medline database searches, and individual searches of medical history and urologic history texts and from individual institutions were performed. RESULTS Sir Francis Cruise, in 1865, perfected the panendoscope using the principle of reflected light from a kerosene lamp, enabling high-quality cystoscopy for the first time. In 1901, Sir Peter Freyer described the suprapublic transvesical prostatectomy, dramatically reducing perioperative mortality for prostate surgery to 3% in 1912. Terence Millin developed a novel in situ rectus fascia pubovaginal sling for incontinence, and revolutionized open prostate surgery with one of the seminal articles in the history of urology. He reported the retropubic extravesical enucleation of the prostate in 20 cases in The Lancet in 1945. Future work on radical retropubic prostatectomy was based on his unique approach to the prostate. In 1956, the first dedicated urology unit was designed and opened in Ireland by Dr. Thomas JD Lane. He reported an overall mortality of 2.3%, in 1540 consecutive prostatectomies, thereby emphasizing the importance of a specialized unit. In the contemporary era, Ralph DeVere White, current president of the Society of Urological Oncology, and John M. Fitzpatrick the current editor of BJU International, the first Irish persons to hold these positions have contributed to the field of urology. CONCLUSION Irish urologists have made considerable contributions to urology throughout modern history, particularly in the areas of endoscopy and prostate surgery. UROLOGY 74: 972-978, 2009. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc.