
This was written by Sivaprasad Madduri, MD, a urologist at NorthWest Clinic, Poplar Bluff, MO.

This was written by Sivaprasad Madduri, MD, a urologist at NorthWest Clinic, Poplar Bluff, MO.

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.

For urologists who strongly oppose key provisions of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (ACA), upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in late June, the best hope for change may lie in the ballot box rather than in the halls of Congress.

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.

Neurotrophic factors that appear in interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) patients' urine and disappear with onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) treatment point to peptidergic primary bladder afferent nerves as the root of patients' pain and other symptoms.

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.

For years, some urologists and physical therapists have been saying that the pelvic floor is contracted and shortened because of hypertonicity in patients with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS), contributing to their misery. Now, using magnetic resonance imaging measurements, researchers have some physical confirmation that these patients do indeed have a contracted pelvic floor.

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.

The newest urology products and services from Covidien, Beckman Coulter, Inc., Allergan Inc., the Seattle App Lab, and Griffin Technology.

Articles in this issue of Urology Times highlight two of the more interesting abstracts on interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) presented at the 2012 AUA annual meeting in Atlanta. They illustrate the relentless progress being made in the efforts to improve the lives of patients with this difficult-to-treat syndrome.

Storing data remotely allows for access from anywhere using the Internet, so, for example, a cloud-based EMR allows urologists in your practice to access and update charts from home or on the road using a smartphone or tablet.

A study on onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) injection into the trigone in Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome patients threw some doubt on whether Hunner's lesions themselves are the major pain generators, even though the study was not designed for that purpose.

Continuous androgen deprivation therapy confers a survival advantage over intermittent therapy in men with metastatic prostate cancer.

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.

If one disregards the 1971–'74 period when U.S. investors could not own it directly, gold's long-term performance drops substantially.

In this article, we briefly review the literature suggesting LESS is safe and holds a potential advantage over conventional laparoscopy. We then describe our techniques and outcomes for performing an extirpative (nephrectomy) and reconstructive (pyeloplasty) LESS procedure.

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) did not increase the risk of biochemical recurrence in hypogonadal men with localized prostate cancer.

Several factors are important when deciding to make the transition to an employment model with a local hospital system.

The AUA is challenged with staying fair and relevant to all urologists under the "big tent," even though academic-employed urologists, non-academic-employed urologists, those in private practice, and those in large group practices may have different priorities and problems.

Urologists were taken aback at the ruling, some less so than others, and their responses varied widely at what the law might mean for their practices and the delivery of health care in this country.

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.

In just 18 patients, a multicenter phase Ib trial of an intravesical lidocaine-delivery device, called LiRIS (lidocaine-releasing intravesical system), not only knocked down pain and other symptoms for the 2 weeks the device was in the bladders of severely symptomatic patients, but in addition, the effects lasted 4 weeks and longer for many patients.

Urologists use apps on phones and tablets for the benefit of patients and their own convenience.

What does this all mean to the practicing urologist? Here is an overview of what to expect in the months and years ahead.

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

Uroplasty, Inc. has announced that EmblemHealth now covers percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation using the company's Urgent PC Neuromodulation System for the treatment of overactive bladder and associated symptoms.

R.D. Levin, MD, has joined Chesapeake Urology Associates and will see patients in the practice's Pine Heights Medical Center and Maple Lawn/Columbia offices in Maryland.

A recently developed genetic test to predict a man's risk for prostate cancer could reduce the need for repeat biopsies in men who have had a negative biopsy, data from a new study indicate.

Many men with prostate cancer do not need immediate treatment, especially if they have low PSA scores or low-risk tumors that are unlikely to grow and spread, according to a multicenter study that suggests such men who undergo radical prostatectomy fare no better than those undergoing observation.