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Prostate cancer nurse specialist shortage: a view from the coal face

Prostate Cancer UK recently reported that there is an impending crisis for men with prostate cancer, simply because the number of nurse specialists available is insufficient for their needs [1]. Background As has been widely reported, the incidence of prostate...

Medical statistics for urologists: part 1

Part 2 of this article is available here, and Part 3 here Clinicians often consider statistics to be a dry and challenging subject. However, an understanding of the basics of statistic methods underpins the interpretation and use of current best...

Trials offering cytoreductive surgery for men with de novo synchronous metastatic prostate cancer

Life expectancy in men diagnosed with de novo synchronous metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) has risen to a median of 4.8 years with upfront systemic agents (such as docetaxel) in addition to standard androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) [1-3]. Within this...

Metabolic screening and stone-prevention in urolithiasis patients

The incidence and prevalence of kidney stones is increasing [1,2]. Significant recurrence rates are noted with 14% of patients experiencing a further episode at one year, 35% at five years, and 52% at 10 years [3]. Over 10% of stone...

ICS updates on continence care: making sense of detrusor underactivity and the underactive bladder

Countless epidemiological studies have established the frequent occurrence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and the significant burden these symptoms incur. For the most part of the past three decades, there has been an overwhelming focus on detrusor overactivity (DO)...

Complications of CISC

Introduction Clean intermittent self catheterisation (CISC) was first introduced and popularised by Lapides in 1972. Since then its utilisation has become widespread and it is now commonly used throughout the world as the preferred means of facilitating complete and effective...

Inpatient care of patients with established spinal cord injury - what a general urologist needs to know

Introduction Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating, life-changing condition, which is currently irreversible. Depending on the level of the spinal cord affected (and whether the lesion is complete or incomplete), patients may subsequently develop reduced voluntary motor function, sensory...

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...

Urethroplasty: a review of indications, techniques and outcomes

Urethral stricture is the most common cause of lower urinary tract obstruction in men aged between 20 and 40, carrying an estimated overall prevalence of 0.5% in the UK [1] and results in around 17,000 hospital admissions annually [2]. Endoscopic...

Moving hospitals as a consultant urological surgeon: what are the challenges?

Despite over 100 unfilled consultant urological surgeon posts in the UK, the reasons why an established surgeon should wish to move hospitals can still be viewed with suspicion. Why is this the case, when in many other careers, both within...

Sustainable healthcare: what steps can urologists take?

Human health is intrinsically linked to environmental health, making the ever-pressing climate crisis fundamentally a public health emergency. The healthcare sector is responsible for 8% of the UK’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide [1]. As the largest publicly funded healthcare...