Urology. A textbook for students of medicine

This textbook of Urology is intended for students of medicine. It complies with the academic Urology curriculum at the Faculty of Medicine, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. In the presentation of the teaching material, using clear and comprehensible language in accordance with the level achieved by our students, we have strived to strike a balance between the necessary and the sufficient amount of information that non-specialist urologists would need in order to acquire the basic knowledge of urology that is essential for their general medical culture and practice. We have deliberately avoided the detailed presentation of anatomy and physiology, and of the principles and methods of conducting different types of examination which are studied in preceding semesters – propaedeutics of surgical diseases, laboratory methods, various methods for imaging diagnostics, microbiology, pharmacology, etc. The authors focus the attention of the students only on the characteristics of conducting examinations in urology patients and mostly on the interpretation of the results. For other important urology issues such as hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections, anesthesia and resuscitation of patients, dialysis methods in chronic kidney disease (CKD), principles of antibacterial therapy, etc., the knowledge obtained in the courses of the respective specialties is relied upon. The acquired knowledge would familiarize the future medics with the nature of the urological diseases, their diagnosis, treatment and prevention, and would help them gain practical knowledge and skills to deal with emergency urological diseases and syndromes in their everyday medical practice.