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Artificial penile pearls: what every Urologist should know!

Penile implants are inert objects placed beneath the skin of the penis through an incision. These are variously referred to as Yakuza beads, pearls, ball bearings, speed bumps, penile marbles, inserts, etc. The term ‘penile implant’ described here should not...

The scent of Ethiopia: a personal story – part 1

Background The year was 2004; I had just moved to the UK as a young house officer and finished my observership programme at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. I was inspired by greats like Patrick Duffy and Phillip Ransley,...

What is the role of evidence-based medicine in urology?

The concept of ‘evidence-based medicine’ (EBM) was first developed in the early 1990s and was described as “the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of the current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients” by the recently...

Practising surgery in a war zone: an interview with Dr Volodymyr Melnyk

It is now nine months since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine commenced in late February 2022, with Putin announcing a “special military operation” to “denazify and demilitarise” Ukraine. The rest of the world, however, saw it for what it...

Hard flaccid syndrome

Chronic pelvic pain is defined as pain present below the level of the umbilicus with a duration of more than six months [1,2]. Chronic pelvic pain syndromes (CPPS) are highly prevalent in Western society, affecting both males and females. Studies...

Botulinum toxin – from the sausage poison to urology

Botulinum toxin is the first biological toxin to be licensed for use in treating human disease and since its first therapeutic use in the early 1980s for strabismus has become widely used in the fields of ophthalmology, cosmetic surgery, migraine...

Surgical video – part 2: Tips on how to edit and create a finished surgical video for teaching or publication

A well-made and informative video can be one of the most valuable promotional tools for a department of urology. Having to resort to an external commercial source to produce a video can be prohibitively expensive. With the extensive computing power...

The impact of FGM on the genitourinary system: a 2021 perspective

Awareness of female genital mutilation (FGM) in European countries has increased over recent decades as a result of globalisation and migration of populations. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes FGM as procedures that involve partial or total removal of the...

An update on antibiotic prophylaxis in TRUS-guided prostate biopsy

Since its inception in the 1980s, transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided prostate biopsy has remained the standard tool for the histological diagnosis of prostate cancer. There are several advantages to this technique which have led to the widespread use of TRUS in...