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Repealing the IOASE would severely curtail the health care options for hundreds of thousands of prostate cancer patients and their families who depend on access to comprehensive, integrated urologic services of the highest quality.

The FDA recently issued two proposed orders that, if finalized, would reclassify surgical mesh for transvaginal pelvic organ prolapse from a moderate-risk device (class II) to a high-risk device (class III) and require manufacturers to submit a premarket approval application for the agency to evaluate safety and effectiveness.

African-American and European-American men at high risk of prostate cancer have greater odds of being diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease if they have vitamin D deficiency, researchers from Chicago’s Northwestern Medicine and the University of Illinois at Chicago reported in a recently published study.

Of the myriad proposed solutions to physician shortages, an expanded scope of practice for non-physician providers can be swiftly implemented by policymakers eager for a quick fix. Unfortunately, quick fixes usually involve shoddy workmanship and, as applied to the provision of health care, shoddy workmanship endangers patient safety.

Analyses of serial magnetic resonance imaging and three-dimensional renderings of those images provide proof of principle for using convective thermal heating to ablate prostate tissue, and early evidence suggests the efficacy and potential clinical advantages of using this novel technology to treat BPH, said first author Lance A. Mynderse, MD, at the European Association of Urology annual congress in Stockholm, Sweden.

Intralesional injection of collagenase clostridium histolyticum (CCH [XIAFLEX]) improves the physical and psychological aspects of Peyronie’s disease in men regardless of erectile dysfunction severity and whether they have a history of prior treatment or prostatectomy, according to a recent study.

Focal therapy has been promoted as a minimally morbid option for men with localized low-risk prostate cancer who nevertheless want their disease treated. Opponents of focal therapy note the heterogeneity and multifocal nature of prostate cancer, the difficulty of accurately targeting and destroying an index tumor with focal therapy, and the unknown biologic potential of the tumor.

A new study has found that for men 65 years of age and older, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy and open prostatectomy have similar rates of complications, providing further evidence that outcomes between the two procedures are not significantly different.

The OIG recently released its work plan for 2014, and it is worth noting what is new and what is ongoing in the scope of the office’s intended activities for the coming year and beyond.

The safety of testosterone replacement therapy has been the subject of two recently published studies, which were followed by a January 2014 FDA announcement that the agency is investigating the risk of stroke, heart attack, and death in men taking TRT. Additional data on the safety of TRT, including its use in men following radical prostatectomy, will be presented at the AUA meeting, said John J. Mulcahy, MD, PhD.