With increased ease of access to information, patients, payers, and surgical operators are demanding stronger evidence of the therapeutic usefulness of device-related and surgical procedures in order to ensure optimal outcomes for the patients.

In 2009, the Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment, Long-Term Follow-Up (IDEAL) Collaboration, an international, Oxford-based group of surgeons and methodologists, suggested a template of clear recommendations to define the fundamental stages of surgical innovations and related research. IDEAL provides a framework for the evaluation of surgical innovations comparable to the existing standards for drug development.

Urologists and researchers connected to the field of urosurgery, urogynecology surgery, and pelvic surgery continue tolead the field when it comes to implementing the IDEAL framework.

We invite urologists, gynecologists, surgeons, investigators, and basic science researchers to contribute review articles, original research articles, meta-analyses, editorials, and appropriately structured clincal studies describing new surgical methods, enhancement of procedures, or development of devices according to the IDEAL recommendations in the broader field of urology and pelvic surgery.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Description of innovative surgical techniques in the field of pelvic surgery
• Meta-analyses of currently applied techniques and their respective ranking according to IDEAL
• Randomized and nonrandomized trials investigating surgical techniques
• Innovative experimental approaches in pelvic-urologic surgery
• Studies on medical/surgical devices and discussing according to IDEAL
• Description of surgical approaches implementing laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgery
• Clincal studies describing initial experience with innovative surgical approaches (Stage 1, according to IDEAL)
• Descriptions of implementation and enhancement of surgery-related alloplastic but also biomedical devices in invitro and invivo settings
• New approaches in the field of organ and/or graft transplantation
• New approaches and development in the field of implants
• Quality improvements to existing services
• Protocols for clinical trials in the field of pelvic-surgical innovations (Stage 2b and further)