Endourology

Over the last decade, the treatment of a variety of urologic diseases has evolved significantly. Treatment of stones, renal obstruction, and a variety of other genitourinary disorders with endoscopes and other minimally invasive techniques, such as extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy and fiberoptic endoscopy, is now commonly referred to as endourology. This field has expanded with the advent of laparoscopy, which refers to minimally invasive surgery performed through small incisions (with the use of a camera and specialized instruments) on a variety of genitourinary body structures, including the kidneys, ureter, bladder, and prostate. Urologic laparoscopists also specialize in laparoscopic surgery of the adrenal gland.

In the Department of Urology’s Division of Endourology and Laparoscopy at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Raymond J. Leveillee, MD, and Vincent G. Bird, MD, are both fellowship-trained endourologists and laparoscopists. They mentor a fully accredited endourology fellow as well. Their areas of expertise include all of the specialty surgeries. The driving philosophy of this division is that minimally invasive surgery and advanced technology can be used to improve the treatments that patients may require for certain urologic disease.  Some of the procedures offered are:

• Caliceal diverticulectomy
• Complex stones of the kidney or urinary bladder
• Cyst decortication
• Donor nephrectomy (transplant)
• Nephroureterectomy
• Partial nephrectomy
• Prostatectomy (with and without the DaVinci robot)
• Pyeloplasty (with and without the DaVinci robot)
• Radical nephrectomy
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Ureteral reimplantation
• Ureteral stricture treatment