What is Urology?

Urology is the area of medicine that manages diseases of the urinary tract in both males and females, and the genital tract in males. Urology is both a medical specialty and surgical specialty, which allows urologists to treat diseases using a wide range of techniques. Urology includes management of diseases of the following organs:

  • Urinary Tract (Male and Female)
    • Kidneys (the organs that make urine)
    • Ureters (the tubes that bring urine from the kidneys to the bladder)
    • Bladder (the organ that stores urine)
    • Urethra (the tube that brings urine from the bladder to outside the body
  • Male Genital Organs
    • Penis (erectile organ for penetrative sexual intercourse and voiding urine)
    • Prostate (the organ that produces fluid to keep sperm healthy and helps with preventing urine leakage)
    • Testes (or Testicles; organs that produce sperm)
    • Vas Deferens (the tubes that carry sperm from the testes to the
    • Epididymis (the area where sperm are stored next to the testes)
    • Scrotum (the sac that contains the testes and epididymis)
    • Seminal Vesicles (the sacs behind the prostate that store prostate secretions)
  • Associated Organs
    • Adrenal glands (the organs that sit above the kidneys and produce hormones that deal with energy management, salt balance, and stress situations)
    • Pelvic floor (support structure for the bladder, as well as female genital organs and lower colon/rectum)

Urologic diseases are quite common, and include symptoms/diagnoses that are well known as being common, but not always understood as being part of urology. These include things like:

  • Kidney stones
  • Urinary tract cancers
  • Voiding/peeing difficulties
  • Urinary tract infections
  • Male infertility
  • Erectile Dysfunction

Because of the wide range of different urologic diseases, many urologists have “sub-specialty” areas that they do extra training in to become more expert and able to manage more complex forms of urologic disease. Sub-specialty areas include:

  • Minimally Invasive Surgery (Keyhole Surgery and “Telescope” Surgery)
  • Kidney Stone Management
  • Oncology (Cancer Surgery)
  • Pediatrics (Urologic diseases in Children/Teenagers)
  • Kidney transplants (receiving a kidney from someone else)
  • Reconstructive urology (fixing and modifying the urinary tract structure)
  • Erectile Dysfunction
  • Male Infertility
  • Voiding/Peeing difficulties (Voiding Dysfunction)
  • Uro-Gynecology (urologic diseases associated with the female genital tract)
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