Proposal for a 'European scoring system for laparoscopic operations in urology'

Purpose. To propose a scoring system of difficulties for the most currently performed laparoscopic procedures in urology. Materials and Methods: Each current laparoscopic procedure has been evaluat ed according to three different criteria: technical difficulty, operative r isk and the attention required. Each criterion is scored from 1 (minimal im pact of the criteria) to 7 (maximal impact of the criteria). The sum of the 3 criteria is used to classify each operation according to an increasing l evel of global difficulty, classified into 6 levels: easy (E: sum of criter ia between 3 and 5), slightly difficult (SD: sum of criteria between 6 and 8), fairly difficult (FD: sum of criteria between 9 and 11), difficult (D: sum of criteria between 12 and 14), very difficult (VD: sum of criteria bet ween 15 and 17), extremely difficult (ED: sum of criteria greater than 18). Results: Procedures currently performed by laparoscopy have been selected f or evaluation according to the above criteria, and retrospectively validate d by European experts in laparoscopic urology according to their experience and the international literature. Conclusion:This proposal of a scoring scale system is a basis for discussio n, teaching and learning of urological laparoscopy. By necessity, this scal e is evolving and will be regularly reconsidered and updated every 5 years. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.