
The latest SGR patch includes a provision that instructs Medicare officials to review the value of some procedures and sets a target for reductions of misvalued codes, which has drawn the criticism of organized urology.

The latest SGR patch includes a provision that instructs Medicare officials to review the value of some procedures and sets a target for reductions of misvalued codes, which has drawn the criticism of organized urology.

At the 2012 AUA annual meeting, researchers reported that ureteroscopy had overtaken extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) as the treatment of choice for kidney stones. Look for research at the 2014 meeting showing that trend is ongoing.

Urologists continue to push the limits of minimally invasive surgery, and key papers presented at the AUA meeting will explore the functional and cancer control outcomes associated with minimally invasive and robotic procedures in prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma. When to use such approaches remains a source of controversy.

Research in advanced prostate cancer is largely focused on newer agents for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, including abiraterone acetate (ZYTIGA), enzalutamide (XTANDI), radium Ra 223 dichloride (Xofigo), and the immunotherapy sipuleucel-T (Provenge).

A number of studies at the 2014 AUA annual meeting will indicate that male infertility is a harbinger of other diseases, specifically suggesting “linkage to all-cause mortality, psychiatric disorders, morbidity, and offspring birth defect risk,” said James M. Hotaling, MD, assistant professor of surgery in the division of urology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

The most informative presentations on interstitial cystitis/bladder syndrome at the 2014 AUA annual meeting will be a plenary talk by J. Quentin Clemens, MD, updating attendees on the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ Multidisciplinary Approach to Pelvic Pain project and an abstract providing long-term follow-up on the use of cyclosporine A in patients with refractory IC, according to Philip M. Hanno, MD, MPH.

Real estate purchases can be made on an individual basis or in a diversified form through partnerships or real estate investment trusts.

In this article, Deepak A. Kapoor, MD, provides an overview of existing benchmarks used in determining physician compensation and basic tools that can assist in the negotiating process.

Drugs and devices in the pipeline from Astellas Pharma, Medivation, Repros Therapeutics, Metamark Genetics, Argos Therapeutics, S1 Biopharma, Ipsen, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, Antigen Express, Generex Biotechnology, Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, and Absorption Pharmaceuticals.

New products and services from Accuray, Cook Medical, OPKO Health, Intuitive Surgical, Skipta, Mauna Kea Technologies, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

This list of U.S.-based National Institutes of Health trials is derived from the NIH’s database and includes phase I-IV hypogonadism and BPH trials that are currently recruiting participants.

Urologists ranked in the top 25% of all specialties for highest average Medicare payments in 2012, according to controversial data released recently by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

About one-fourth of men with slow-growing prostate cancer who undergo active surveillance drop out of the program, according to findings from a relatively small European study.

The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the American Academy of Ophthalmology have jointly issued an educational update about cataract surgery complications associated with systemic alpha-blockers based on the recent publication of two studies.

The number of older women being diagnosed with and treated for pelvic organ prolapse increased dramatically during the first decade of the 21st century, and surgical interventions gained in dominance. However, while mesh-based transvaginal repair seemed to gain early acceptance, its utilization was impacted by FDA safety notifications about serious mesh-related complications, reported researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College, New York.

Intravesical administration of a liquid liposomal formulation of onabotulinumtoxinA (“Liposomal BoNT-A,” Lipella Pharmaceuticals) shows promise as a safe and effective treatment for refractory overactive bladder (OAB), according to a pilot study presented at the European Association of Urology annual congress in Stockholm, Sweden.

There has been a movement favoring noninvasive and minimally invasive approaches for management of urologic trauma cases, but findings from a multi-institutional retrospective study indicate that at least for patients with extraperitoneal bladder injury, evidence-based data are needed to justify that trend.

Adding local radiotherapy to hormonal treatment more than halves long-term prostate cancer-specific mortality and substantially decreases overall mortality in men with non-metastatic locally advanced or high-risk prostate cancer, according to an updated analysis of clinical trial data from the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group’s Study VII.

Three-dimensional mapping biopsy (3DMB) of the prostate provides a more accurate disease assessment and in doing so may allow more confident decision making when patients and their physicians are trying to resolve issues surrounding observation or more aggressive therapies, a study from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, suggests.

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.

Higher PSA density at diagnosis is associated with biopsy progression of low-risk prostate cancer in patients enrolled in active surveillance.

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.

Dose-escalated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with use of a moderate hypofractionation regimen (72 Gy in 2.4-Gy fractions) can safely treat patients with localized prostate cancer with limited grade 2 or 3 late toxicity, according to a recently published study.

Among men undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer, daily use of the phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor tadalafil (Cialis), compared with placebo, did not prevent loss of erectile function, a recently published study found.

This guide features products and services from manufacturers that are exhibiting at the AUA annual meeting in Orlando. Exhibit hall booth numbers have been included so that you can search for product demonstrations and exhibits that are of particular interest to you.

The 2014 Urology Joint Advocacy Conference (JAC), co-sponsored by the American Association of Clinical Urologists and the American Urological Association, turned out to be an opportune time for urologists visiting Capitol Hill.

The AUA returns to Orlando-one of the nation’s most family-friendly, fun cities-for its 2014 annual meeting, May 16-21. Although this central Florida town is most frequently associated with a certain beloved mouse-and Disney’s many parks are well worth a visit, regardless of your age-there are plenty of other activities to make all ages smile.

In his latest blog post, Henry Rosevear, MD, summarizes the Affordable Care Act and explains how it has already affected his practice.

Three professional medical societies and an international group of 130 scientists and physicians have petitioned JAMA to retract a recent article that reported an association between the use of testosterone therapy and increased risk of death, heart attack, or ischemic stroke.

Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are associated with a significant improvement in erectile function, cardiologists reported in a new meta-analysis.