Urology unlike many other medical fields, enables diagnostic and therapeutic procedures inside the urinary tract by using natural orifices and pathways.

This very option of an operational treatment which does not require surgery encouraged the efforts of physicians in the past. Today we can find traces of early Endourology treatments dating from antiquity: in Ancient China (3,000 years B.C.) and Ancient Egypt (1,500 B.C.). The development of optical endoscopes equipped with lights improved conditions and allowed for the progress of Endoscopy and subsequently Endourology.

In the 19th century, the French urologist Antonin Jean Desormeaux performed the first successful operation on a live patient. In the early 20th century his innovations and the pioneering efforts of giant masters of Urology such as Nitze, Albarran, Beer, Ringleb and Goldschmidt, etc., set the development path for further progress of Endourology.

Congress in Vodice is followed by a significant event in Istanbul in September 2012 - 30th World Congress of Endourology and SWL where colleagues will be introduced with the latest global developments in Endourology.

Organised by the Šibenik General Hospital Department of Surgery and Urology, Croatian Urology Society, Technical organiser and Tour operator BE Tours and exclusive sponsor, the company “Richard Wolf” from Germany, the International Congress Endourology Today was held, in which over 300 participants and 35 exhibitors took part.

The educational goal of this Congress was conceived in several parts: