Journal Reviews
Evaluation of the learning curve for learning MRI-US fusion prostate biopsies
With the advent of one-stop prostate cancer diagnostic clinics, the findings of this study are of interest to readers who may be implementing MRI-US transrectal or transperineal fusion biopsies to their clinical practice. This prospective cohort study evaluated 779 consecutive...
Transurethral enucleation is superior to resection for the management of LUTS secondary to BPH
This meta-analysis (Level 1b evidence) examined the efficacy and safety of two primary transurethral therapies used in the management of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), enucleation (HoLEP – holmium laser enucleation of prostate, ThuLEP,...
One cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy in tumours of the testis
Following a radical orchiectomy, current UK practice for newly diagnosed, high-risk, stage 1 nonseminomatous or combined germ cell tumours of the testis (NSCGCTT) is either two cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with bleomycin, etoposide, cisplatin (BE360Px2) or surveillance with BE500Px3 on...
Prostatic urethral lift for obstructive median lobes: 12-month results of the MedLift study
As the various new BPH therapies try and mark out their role in the management of the condition, this is an interesting and useful addition to the literature. Patients were clinically screened for an obstructive median lobe on cystoscopy, which...
Psychosocial distress in parents of children with DSD
Disorders of sex development (DSD) are a rare set of medical conditions with prevalence rates ranging between 1:00 to 1:5000 births. Secondary atypical genitalia is seen in a subset. Psychosocial aspects have until recently been understudied. We know that some...
Advanced prostate cancer and chemotherapy
The treatment pathway for advanced prostate cancer is both puzzling and complex and varies from centre to centre in the UK. The National Prostate Cancer Audit Report 2019 for England and Wales shows that only a quarter of men with...
Prenatal spina bifida repair – does it have urological benefits in the longer term?
At present, I have one patient under my care who underwent prenatal closure of his spina bifida defect. Only with time, will we be able to determine whether this intervention has been of benefit for him from a urological standpoint....
What should we do with the incidentally detected renal cyst in a child?
The introduction of routine prenatal screening in the early 1980s resulted in paediatric urologists being confronted with the dilemma of what to do with antenatally-detected urinary tract dilatation, many of whom, we now know, do not require long-term surveillance or...
Guideline of guidelines – testosterone therapy for testosterone deficiency
The authors conducted an internet search and analysed guidelines for testosterone therapy (TTh) produced by the American Urological Association (AUA), European Association of Urology (EAU), American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), British Society of Sexual Medicine (BSSM), Endocrine Society (ES),...
Non-urothelial tumours of bladder – impact on oncological outcomes
Non-urothelial bladder tumours are not very common and they are generally considered to be high risk tumours when compared to standard urothelial tumours. In this study the researchers analysed the oncological outcomes of patients with such histology in comparison to...
Supranormal function on MAG-3 – what is its significance and how to predict?
Differential renal function (DRF) on MAG-3 scans is typically used in patients with pelvic ureteric junction obstruction (PUJ obstruction). Supranormal DRF is when the kidney with PUJO has higher DRF than the normal contralateral kidney. The authors in this study...
Prostate cancer and an electronic nose
So far the transrectal ultrasound guided (TRUS) biopsy has been the ‘gold standard’ for diagnosing prostate cancer. However, it is invasive and can lead to complications, so there is a need for new non-invasive diagnostic tools to avoid unnecessary biopsy...
