Arnulf Stenzl, MD, presented “Future Prospects of AI Technology in the Lower Urinary Tract” during the 42nd Annual Ralph E. Hopkins Urology Seminar on February 1, 2023, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
How to cite: Stenzl, Arnulf. “Future Prospects of AI Technology in the Lower Urinary Tract.” February 1, 2023. Accessed Feb 2026. https://grandroundsinurology.com/future-prospects-of-ai-technology-in-the-lower-urinary-tract/
Future Prospects of AI Technology in the Lower Urinary Tract – Summary
Arnulf Stenzl, MD, discusses the future prospects of artificial intelligence (AI) combined with precision surgery and robotics in the diagnosis and treatment of the lower urinary tract. He outlines an intraoperative multisensory approach for tissue differentiation involving sensor development with mechanical, optical, and electric properties. Combined with AI modeling, the result is a scoring system for intraoperative identification of tissue characteristics based on multimodal/multiscale data with tissue differentiation by optical emission spectroscopy.
Dr. Stenzl displays data on the discrimination of tissue based on electrical impedance. He points out the value of discrimination of deeper tissue layers using model-based optical sensors to see and avoid, for example, vessels and nerves. Dr. Stenzl then describes a device for intraoperative real-time elastography, even at the cellular level.
He emphasizes the importance of consistent AI tissue modeling, covering multiple physical domains to combine different sensors and inform the best actions. Dr. Stenzl explains that AI can extract and reproduce features for navigation during surgery. Dr. Stenzl re-emphasizes the importance of precision surgery moving toward intraoperative diagnostics that builds on the traditional standard of frozen section and predicts the further development of precision surgery and AI technologies in the coming years.
About The 42nd Annual Ralph E. Hopkins Urology Seminar:
The Ralph E. Hopkins Urology Seminar is a multi-day meeting focused on training urologists in the latest in assessing, diagnosing, and treating urologic conditions in the clinical setting. Updates are provided on urologic cancers, stone disease, urologic reconstruction, female urology, infertility, sexual function, emerging surgical techniques, and general urology. The 42nd iteration of the meeting took place from February 1st to 4th, 2023, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
For further educational activities from this conference, visit our collection page.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arnulf Stenzl, MD, is Deputy Spokesperson of RTG 2543 and the Principle Investigator of Subproject C1 at the University of Stuttgart and a Professor and Medical Director in the Department of Urology at the University Hospital Tubingen in Germany. Dr. Stenzl has made significant contributions to the field of urology, with over 800 publications and scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. His research and focus include prostate cancer, bladder tumors, and lymph node dissection.
