Urologist

A urologist is a medical doctor who works in the field of diagnosis and treatment of diseases and disorders that affect the urinary tract of both males and females, which include the kidneys, the bladder, the ureters, and the urethra, and also the male reproductive organs.

As such, their work combines the management of nonsurgical problems which include urinary infections, and also surgical issues which range from the correction of congenital abnormalities to the surgical management of cancer. Many urologists are also involved in the assessment and treatment of incontinence and related disorders. Some urologists specialize in particular fields with urologic oncology, stone disease, pediatric urology, sexual dysfunction, and male infertility being some of those areas.

One of the earliest urologists was the Spanish surgeon Francisco Diaz, who in 1588, wrote the first book on the diseases of the bladder, kidneys, and the urethra, and is now generally acknowledged as the founder of modern urology. The German urologist Max Nitze developed the cytoscope in 1877—this tube serving as a viewing instrument and preventing the need for invasive surgery to examine and drain the bladder. Today, X-ray techniques provide extremely important ways of diagnosing problems, but the cytoscope is still used for certain procedures. Another well-known urologist is Charles B. Huggins. He was responsible for researching the relationship between hormones and certain types of cancer, sharing the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1966 with the pathologist Peyton Rous.

Another well-known pioneer urologist was William F. Braasch, whose account of his work at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, Early Days in the Mayo Clinic (1969), describes his work. The American Urological Association Inc. was founded in 1902 and has about 12,000 members. The Association publishes The Journal of Urology each month, and the AUA News six times a year.