[Urological Clinic of the University Hospital of Lübeck: Founding and history of the urology department in the second half of the 20th century].

The history of the Urological Clinic of the University Hospital of Lübeck reaches back to the 1970s when the clinic was part of the Department of Surgery. In many German university hospitals, the urological departments became an independent clinic in the 1960s and 1970s. There was no Chair for Urology in Lübeck until 1983 when Alfred Hofstetter was inaugurated as first Professor of Urology in Lübeck. Under his guidance, the scientific focus was on laser research and its clinical use. From 1989-1990, Wolfgang Knipper was provisional director of the clinic until Dieter Jocham became successor of Hofstetter. The effect of BCG in nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer and cystoscopy with photodynamic diagnostics were two large fields of research during the Jocham era. The increased development of laparoscopic techniques for the urological surgeon was also part of this time. After Jocham's retirement, the clinic was temporarily led by the Department of Surgery. Currently, the clinic is again under urological reign: Karl-Dietrich Sievert was head of department until May 2015, when Axel Merseburger accepted the position as the Director of the Clinic.