Journal Reviews
Bedside teaching
All of us are involved in the teaching and training of under or postgraduate medical students and nurses. This article gives a patient’s perspective and thoughts on being an ‘interesting’ patient within a ward or clinic setting. Important points to...
Urology patient assessment – importance of holistic approach – new paradigm
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) seems to affect 30% of the general population above 65 and its presence has a wide range of significance. This is a prospective single centre study to look at MCI in adult urological patients above 18...
Sepsis and antibiotics: the debate goes on
Sepsis statistics are staggering around the world. The UK Sepsis Trust estimates that there are around 150,000 cases of sepsis in the UK every year and it kills 44,000 patients per year. There are many different definitions and criteria; in...
Do stones still kill?
This paper is a retrospective analysis of deaths ascribed to stone disease in England and Wales over a 15-year period. The data was obtained from the Office of National Statistics, based on mortality derived from death certificates. One thousand, nine...
NICE backs laser for BPH
Benign prostatic hyperplasia affects 60% of men aged 60 or over. The medical technology division of the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) has supported the GreenLight XPS laser system as a surgical tool. The specific indications are:...
Research needs you
This was an eye-catching front cover headline for the BMJ. Is research as important as clinical duties? The answer has to be yes. Research takes place in every NHS hospital, albeit in a fragmented way. All of us have to...
Cystolithotripsy using the holmium laser: evolving uses for the laser lithotrite
This small prospective study examined 20 patients who were undergoing laser cystolithotripsy for bladder stones. Laser lithotripsy was performed using either a 365 or 550µm holmium:YAG laser fibre with a power setting of 1.0J and a frequency of 10Hz. Stone...
What is the significance of prostatic calcification?
This prospective study on men undergoing transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) biopsies was performed to evaluate the prevalence and to classify prostatic calcification (PCalc) on TRUS and correlate the findings with histology. Images of the prostate were saved at three defined regions:...
MRU for diagnosis of paediatric ureteral stricture
Hydronephrosis is diagnosed antenatally in approximately 1-5% of all pregnancies. A rare cause is ureteral stricture, found in 4% of these cases. This study reports a series of 28 strictures diagnosed over a 10-year period by magnetic resonance urography (MRU)...
Utility of biomarkers in the prediction of oncologic outcome after radical cystectomy for SCC
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the bladder is more commonly seen in Egypt due to schistosomiasis (bilharziasis) and accounts for 2% to 5% of all bladder tumours. Schistosomiasis is found in the bladder vasculature and leads to chronic inflammation causing...
Fluoroquinolone resistant rectal colonisation predicts risk of infectious complications after TRPB
Transrectal prostate biopsy (TRPB) has been associated with increased risk of infection between 3.6-5% and sepsis rates of 0.3-3.1% mainly due to fluoroquinolone resistance (FQR). At present, FQ antibiotic prophylaxis is utilised commonly across North America and Europe but due...
PDE5I in LUTS – how do they work – no proof yet
Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors used in erectile dysfunction (ED) have been shown to improve lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) as well. The mechanism is not well understood. One of the hypotheses for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) – LUTS is...
