Page 3 of 6: History of Pædiatric Urology in Denmark

History of Pædiatric Urology in Denmark

Ole H Nielsen

Records of pædiatric urology in Denmark before 1950 are sporadic. Undescended testes and hypospadias are treated randomly in surgical departments. There is no tradition of circumcision in Denmark. The few childrens’ hospitals - later to be closed – had no surgical departments, and there are no records of treatment of congenital anomalies.
In 1950 a pædiatric surgical service was established within the pædiatric department of Copenhagen University Hospital with C.C. Winkel Smith as chief. All branches of soft tissue pædiatric surgery are taken up, and for the first time the term Pædiatric Urology is used. In the 1960’s there is a debate in the medical press about the treatment of undescended testes, because endocrinologists maintain that surgery is harmful and causes infertility. In the 1970’s pædiatric urologic activity starts in the urological department of Aarhus University Hospital and it develops in the following years.
In Copenhagen urodynamics was taken up in the 1960’s and under Ole Henrik Nielsen and Jørgen Thorup the department has contributed to pædiatric urology in the fields of hydronephrosis, undescended testes, prænatal diagnosis, neuroblastoma, neurogenic bladder and urogenital and intersex conditions.
In Aarhus, under Troels Munch Jørgensen and Henning Olsen activities have centered mainly on hydronephrosis and vesico-ureteral reflux, and on laparoscopic robotic surgery.