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Training to be a urologist: how risky is it?

The NHS and urology face challenging times in trying to provide quality patient care efficiently and economically. Urology trainees are experiencing conflicting pressures with a new contract, a challenging on-call system and changing training requirements in an overstretched, centralised service...

ICS updates in continence care: a personal perspective on the role of basic science in urology

At a urology research meeting in Sheffield a few years ago, a former post doctorate researcher in urology, Mathieu Boudes, said: “Stop calling it basic research, there is nothing basic about it. It is fundamental research to everything urologists do.”...

Meeting in the middle: a review of the rendezvous technique to treat impassable ureteric strictures and transected ureters

Introduction Complex ureteric strictures present a significant challenge with some patients undergoing multiple separate urological and radiological procedures to try to cross a stricture without success. Cross-departmental collaboration with uroradiology may allow a decrease in the number of separate interventions....

Guide to gaining approval for a clinical study

This article focuses on gaining approval for clinical research involving NHS patients, although the principles can be applied to other types of research. It can be quite a daunting process for the uninitiated applicant. Often it can be made less...

Cutting-edge or over-hyped? Evaluating the role of robotic surgery in the management of renal cell carcinoma

The quest for a minimally-invasive approach to major abdominal surgery finds its roots at the start of the previous century, when Georg Kelling first described the technique of ‘ceolioscopy’ to inspect intraabdominal organs in 1901 [1]. Since those early days,...

Molecular biology – bladder cancer

Background Bladder cancer is the most common cancer of the urinary tract and approximately 90% of bladder cancers diagnosed in North America and Europe are transitional cell carcinomas (TCC). For the purposes of diagnosis and treatment, bladder cancer is often...

Male urethrograms

An ascending urethrogram is the best initial radiographic technique to image a male patient’s urethra and is indicated for strictures, fistulae, trauma and urethral obstruction [1]. It is quick and straightforward to perform and is performed using an 8Fr Foley...

The role of transperineal template biopsies in the diagnosis of prostate cancer

The case In 2002, Mr A, a 64-year-old software engineer, was referred by his GP for further investigation of a raised prostate specific antigen (PSA) of 6.2. His prostate felt benign. He underwent transrectal ultrasound guided (TRUS) prostate biopsies. This...