The 911 of urology in trauma care
Urologists’ skill and expertise serve critical role in collaboration with acute care surgery team.
Urologists play a crucial role in trauma care, often called to manage a range of genitourinary injuries, including those of the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra. Often collaborating with the trauma team to ensure proper diagnostic imaging, function preservation and timely interventions, their skill in mastering minimally invasive techniques, knowledge and expertise provides immediate solutions to care.
Today’s session, “State-of-the-Art Lecture: What Is the Role of the Urologist in Trauma Care in 2025?” 9-9:15 a.m. in the Venetian Ballroom, details the 911 of trauma care for urologists and its benefit to patients with acute injury.
“The urologist’s role in trauma care is directly proportional to proximity of the injury to the genitalia,” said Sean Elliott, MD, a professor and director of reconstructive urology at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. “That is to say that urologists care for all aspects of the injury when it is to the genitalia, but play a slightly smaller role in bladder trauma, and smaller still in renal trauma.”
Typically, renal trauma in 2025 is primarily managed by acute care surgeons with a urology consultation, Dr. Elliott said. Concurrently, the care model for renal trauma has moved away from reconstruction and toward observation for most injuries and nephrectomy for some. Acute renal reconstruction is rarely employed today,
and acute care surgeons make most of the decisions about emergent nephrectomy for critically ill persons, but urologists can help with the prevention and management of complications in patients on observation, he said. Additionally, urologists remain the experts in delayed reconstruction of the injured ureter or urethra.
Dr. Elliott also said urologists play a critical role in the use of advanced technologies for minimally invasive surgery, due to their expertise in this area.
“Urologists are the experts in minimally invasive characterization and management of ureteral injury,” he said. “Our ability to place ureteral stents is an important element of acute trauma care.”
Dr. Elliott said this morning’s session features a panel of seven urologists with expertise in trauma care who will underscore the importance of staying engaged with your hospital’s acute care surgery partners.
“Be available to help identify patients at risk for urologic complications of genitourinary trauma and manage them appropriately to avoid complications,” he said. “We appreciate our acute care colleagues being there in the middle of the night for the emergency nephrectomy; likewise, they appreciate us being involved in the subacute care of renal trauma and for taking ownership of bladder and genital trauma.”
