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Efficacy of flexible ureteroscopy and laser lithotripsy for lower pole renal calculi

The management of lower pole renal stones (LPS) is often difficult. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), flexible ureterorenoscopy (fURS) and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) are all potential options with potential benefits and disadvantages. In order to assess the success of fURS...

Increasing PSA after negative prostate biopsy - solving the clinical puzzle

There are standard guidelines for first transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) guided biopsy in a patient presenting with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) or suspicious digital rectal examination (DRE) findings. Patients are generally warned before a TRUS biopsy in respect of a false...

Prostatic artery embolisation – an option for select BPO patients

Few proponents of prostatic artery embolisation (PAE) regard it as a potential standard in future for benign prostatic obstruction (BPO) / benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) treatment. Present guidelines from the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) and the...

Can antibiotics reduce ‘unnecessary’ prostate biopsies?

With numerous factors capable of influencing prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels and therefore the likelihood of biopsy, this multi-centred randomised controlled trial (RCT) was designed to see if two weeks of ciprofloxacin compared to placebo would significantly reduce PSA levels...

Cryotherapy for small renal masses: better than surveillance?

With the rapid rise in incidental small renal mass detection, some of which have malignant potential, comes the need to either survey or treat these masses safely and with minimal morbidity. This large series of 147 patients with 171 masses,...

Age does not impact risk for urethroplasty complications after TIP repair of hypospadias

This paper is evidence of an increasing trend (especially in the USA) to lower the age at which hypospadias repair is undertaken. The current generalised best accepted age to repair hypospadias is between 6-18 months, which was reduced in the...

Is routine renal tumour biopsy associated with lower rates of benign histology following nephrectomy for small renal masses?

There has been a considerable increase in the detection of small renal masses (SRM). Approximately 20% of these turn out to be benign lesions on final histopathological analysis. Therefore upfront surgery can be overtreatment in such a group of patients....

Hypospadias – how long should follow-up be?

The optimal duration of follow-up following childhood hypospadias repair (to detect complications) is ill-defined. Several surgeons recommend it to include assessment during puberty. Some may worry that ‘rapid penile growth’, ‘erectile forces’ and ‘sexual activity’ could potentially stress previously successful...