Reproductive surgery: decreasing skills and advancing technology—an existential conundrum

Abstract

Our article endeavors to be both a review of the recent past and a preview of the future of reproductive surgery. By reflecting on the rate of technological advancement over the past decade, we attempt to predict the trajectory of the next. We also delve into the changing nature and practical challenges of the practice of gynecologic surgery for the reproductive endocrinology and infertility subspecialist. We will explain how technological advances may alter our perception and expectations regarding the indications, timing and extent of surgical intervention in the infertile patient and in the patient seeking preservation of fertility. This review does not aim to be comprehensive, choosing instead to focus on those innovations that hold, in our view, true potential to shape the future of surgical practice. Ours is primarily a technology review. As such, it does not focus on novel surgical techniques, including uterine transplantation and ovarian tissue transplantation.