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Cancer care is currently experiencing rapid development in novel therapeutics, with an associated rise in treatment costs. These changes not only create a critical challenge for therapeutic decision-making but also highlight the need to prioritize therapies of high clinical and economic value. Health technology assessment methodology is a novel approach that could help guide value-based decision-making.
GeoBioMed, a new multidisciplinary approach, combines geology, biology, urology and microscopy to discover unorthodox treatments. Results indicate that calcium oxalate kidney stones undergo previously unforeseen cycles of repeated crystallization, dissolution, fracturing and faulting. GeoBioMed challenges clinical paradigms for in vivo stone formation and treatment as well as biomineralization in natural and engineered environments.
Improved tools for diagnosis, treatment and basic research into the mechanisms of urological disease have transformed our field over the past 15 years. However, building on these advances relies on continued collaboration, teamwork and data sharing across our specialty.
The future of urology holds promising new technologies but also a challenging increase in urological care needs. To translate emerging technologies and medical advances into use and accommodate the growing demand for urological services, we need strong collaboration with other health-care professionals within urology, other medical specialties and the community that surrounds our profession.
As a field that embraces technology, urology has evolved quickly in the past 15 years and is likely to change at an even greater pace in the next 15. Several approaches and initiatives have the potential to improve patient care, in particular the use of telemedicine, improvements in data analytics and growth of physician collaboratives.