Quantitative Analysis of Technological Innovation in Urology.

OBJECTIVE: To assess major areas of technological innovation in urology in the last 20 years using patent and publication data.

METHODS: Patent and MEDLINE databases were searched between 1980 and 2012 electronically using the terms urology OR urological OR urologist AND "surgeon" OR "surgical" OR "surgery". The patent codes obtained were grouped in technology clusters, further analyzed with individual searches, and growth curves were plotted. Growth rates and patterns were analyzed, and patents were correlated with publications as a measure of scientific support and of clinical adoption.

RESULTS: The initial search revealed 417 patents and 20,314 publications. The top 5 technology clusters in descending order were surgical instruments including urinary catheters, minimally invasive surgery (MIS), lasers, robotic surgery, and image guidance. MIS and robotic surgery were the most emergent clusters in the last 5 years. Publication and patent growth rates were closely correlated (Pearson coefficient 0.78, P <.01), but publication growth rate remained constantly higher than patent growth, suggesting validated scientific support for urologic innovation and adoption into clinical practice.

CONCLUSION: Patent metrics identify emergent technological innovations and such trends are valuable to understand progress in the field of urology. New surgical technologies like robotic surgery and MIS showed exponential growth in the last decade with good scientific vigilance.