Cheryl Guttman Krader, BS, Pharm

Results from a prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial suggest that bipolar plasma vaporization of the prostate is a promising advance in the surgical treatment of BPH in men with average-size prostates.

Hospital adoption of robotic technology leads to an increase in overall volume of radical prostatectomy cases and has a positive impact on patient morbidity.

A final analysis of data after 11 years of follow-up in the European Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) shows a highly statistically significant benefit of PSA screening for reducing prostate cancer mortality.

Both the clinical presentation and management of incident kidney stone disease appear to vary by age such that older individuals are more likely than their younger counterparts to present with a concurrent urinary tract infection (UTI), have no or atypical pain, and require surgical intervention.

Although 24-hour urinary sodium excretion is considered the gold standard for assessing a person's dietary sodium intake, findings of a study call this practice into question.

Imbalances in meal content of calcium and oxalate throughout the day appear to have no impact on calcium oxalate stone risk in persons with high oxalate intake, at least in healthy non-stone-forming adults who maintain a normal daily calcium intake.

Having a positive attitude regarding active surveillance for patients with low-risk prostate cancer does not correlate with the likelihood that radiation oncologists and urologists will recommend it in lieu of treatment.

Some 190,000 men in the U.S. with non-metastatic prostate cancer were receiving continuous androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) at the end of 2008.

Analyses of data from the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Study (PCOS) show that among men with localized prostate cancer, treatment by radical prostatectomy results in significantly better 15-year overall and disease-specific survival outcomes compared with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT).

Combining the results of the diagnostic and first-surveillance prostate biopsies provides useful information about the risk of progression in patients being managed by active surveillance.

PSA screening is on the rise and varies according to age, family history, race/ethnicity, and insurance status.

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) prior to salvage cryoablation appears to improve post-treatment morbidity to some extent but does not affect biochemical-free survival.

Results of a retrospective study provide evidence supporting the use of ultrasound as follow-up imaging to detect relapses in patients with germ cell tumors (GCT).

Patients being treated with oral anticancer drugs for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) demonstrate almost full adherence to their medication regimen, data show.

Repeat intradetrusor injections of onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) are associated with sustained efficacy and no new safety signals.

Findings from a study of patients who underwent surgical mesh removal over a 6-year period will hopefully help surgeons with their management decisions and counseling efforts, UCLA researchers reported at the AUA annual meeting in Atlanta.

In treating nocturia related to urgency, flexible-dose fesoterodine (Toviaz) demonstrates statistical superiority to placebo in several areas, according to a study presented at the AUA annual meeting here.

Analyses of data collected in a large series of women who underwent concurrent anti-incontinence and prolapse surgery show the patients achieved a high rate of satisfaction overall.

The program on advanced prostate cancer at the 2012 AUA annual meeting will include maturing data from clinical trials investigating targeted and vaccine therapies, as well as some preliminary information suggesting that folate may have a chemopreventive effect.

Stone disease and minimally invasive treatment approaches are once again leading issues in the pediatric urology section of the 2012 AUA annual meeting.

The addition of a short course of hormone therapy to radiation improves outcomes for patients with intermediate-risk, early-stage prostate cancer.

Use of nutritional supplements providing vitamins and higher doses of antioxidants does not appear to interfere with the efficacy of radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for prostate cancer appears to have the same impact on sexual function as other forms of radiotherapy.

Recently published data analyses provide further evidence in support of assessing sexual health as a simple, low-cost strategy to augment traditional screening for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in men.

Results of a retrospective analysis, including data from a multi-institutional cohort of more than 1,200 men, suggest that obesity and race may be important modifiers in determining the association between diabetes and prostate cancer aggressiveness.

Research characterizing the features of putative prostate cancer stem cells and their susceptibility to telomerase inhibition has important implications for understanding the biology of prostate cancer and for suggesting a new approach to treatment of advanced disease.

Laparoscopic gastric band placement confers a lower lithogenic risk than the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Robotic prostatectomy in morbidly obese men is feasible, reasonably safe, and appears to provide oncologic control comparable to that achieved in a normal weight population.

Benign PSA, measured in serum with a proprietary automated assay, improves prostate cancer detection when it is incorporated into an artificial neural network.

Outcomes of studies reviewing patients who have undergone placement of a coil-based metallic ureteral stent indicate it is a viable alternative for management of benign and malignant upper urinary tract obstruction.