Mac Overmyer

Gynecologists derive higher complication rates than urologists during the first 30 days following sling procedures for urinary incontinence, according to a multicenter study presented at the European Association of Urology annual congress in Munich, Germany.

New study data suggest an answer to the problem of managing stones in pregnant women.

The first clinical trial of a novel ultrasound technology shows that it can safely reposition stones in situ to make them more amenable to natural passage and treatment.

Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer are among the great medical accomplishments of the latter part of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st. Five-year survival rates for newly diagnosed loco-regional cancer advanced from 68% in 1975-’77 to 83% in 1987-’89 to nearly 100% in 2003-’09, according to the American Cancer Society. This victory, however impressive, is incomplete.

A study from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York sheds light on the “obesity paradox” seen with renal cell carcinoma while at the same time demonstrating the emerging value of genomics in understanding cancer and other diseases.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, have identified a discrete set of genes that segregate high-grade bladder cancer into two distinct subtypes-basal-like and luminal-each of which appears to have its own molecular characteristics and outcome. The authors also found that the two subtypes share many of the characteristics seen in basal and luminal breast cancer subtypes, a discovery with clinical implications.

Laser photoselective vaporization prostatectomy is permitting surgical intervention for BPH in a widening array of patients, many of whom harbor comorbidities that would ordinarily exclude them from invasive procedures, according to a new multinational report.

Type of surgical approach-open or robot assisted-appears to have no effect on specific clinical outcomes in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy for high-risk prostate cancer, nor does the procedure influence the pathway subsequent therapy might follow, according to a recent study.

More than 85% of patients undergoing robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy may not require opioid analgesia either immediately post-op, in hospital, or upon release, according to a recent study.

Robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy in patients with intermediate- or high-risk cancers achieves outcomes similar to those seen with the open procedure, say researchers from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.

Researchers have shown, via a phase I trial, that the relationship between nerves and prostate cancer in perineural invasion is susceptible to therapeutic intervention with neurotoxic agents such as onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox).

The incidence of secondary malignancies following prostate cancer therapy is similarly uncommon whether the treatment is surgery, brachytherapy, or external beam therapy.

Testosterone, a hormone somewhat relegated to background status for many years, is moving to the fore as a central factor in men's health and disease.

Interim data from a phase III trial of a novel radiation agent in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) showed the agent's efficacy to be significantly sufficient to bring the trial to a halt at a planned interim analysis so as to be able offer the agent to men in the placebo arm.

All-cause and cancer-specific outcomes for Gleason grade 8 and 9 cancers are significantly better than Gleason grade 10 cancer.

Internet-marketed medication purporting to be a generic form of the phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor Viagra (sildenafil citrate) is likely to be neither generic nor Viagra but instead is an expertly packaged mix of materials such as paint, insecticides, rat poisons, boric acid, and gypsum, according to a study presented at the AUA annual meeting in Atlanta.

Findings from a recent study support the use of a deeper incision in microdissection testicular sperm extraction when no sperm-containing tubules are found on the initial wide incision.

Attendees of the 2012 AUA annual meeting can anticipate learning about studies of sexual dysfunction that may have a significant impact on treatment paradigms.

Minimally invasive radical prostatectomy (MIRP), which encompasses laparoscopic and robot-assisted procedures, holds no advantage over open radical prostatectomy in terms of complication rates.

Over the course of a decade, the therapeutic pendulum in treating urinary incontinence in women swung dramatically from needle suspension and anterior urethropexy to collagen injections and back again to suspension procedures with no sound clinical trials driving the move toward either approach.

Infection-retardant coatings on penile prostheses, which have been shown to reduce primary implantation infection rates by more than half, appear to have minimal effect on bacterial growth based on culture data as found at the time of revision surgery.

Postoperative pharmacologic therapy enhances the chances of erectile function recovery in virtually all categories of men who undergo bilateral nerve-sparing prostatectomy.

Over the course of a decade, the therapeutic pendulum in treating urinary incontinence in women swung dramatically from needle suspension and anterior urethropexy to collagen injections and back again to suspension procedures with no sound clinical trials driving the move to either approach.

Single-port laparoscopic surgery could be the next big advancement in laparoscopic surgery.

Laparoscopic and robotic pyeloplasty appear to be equally effective in correcting utereropelvic junction obstruction.

A new noninvasive vacuum protocol for erectile dysfunction patients using an inflatible penile prosthesis can prevent penile shortening.

Two of several studies presented by the same international team suggest that high-intensity focused ultrasound provides good biochemical-free survival at 5 years in patients treated in the absence of hormone therapy.

Due to PSA screening practices in the U.S., three-fourths of American men with prostate cancer may be eligible for focal ablation.

A new computerized tool may solve the problem of the time and effort it takes to have patients fill out forms to assess quality of life.

Two large studies of cryoablation for prostate cancer showed positive disease-free rates.