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Compared with conservative management of the disease, androgen deprivation therapy does not appear to be associated with improved survival in elderly men with localized prostate cancer, according to a study in JAMA (2008; 300:173-81).

The U.S. Senate has approved legislation by a veto-proof margin that would void a 10.6% pay cut for physicians treating Medicare patients. The bill now goes to the White House.

In its 103rd installment, the AUA annual meeting introduced urologists to interesting research about relationships between urologic conditions and other significant health issues. The annual take-home messages are presented here.

Open radical nephrectomy has long been the standard of care for patinets with organ-confined or locally advanced renal cell carcinoma. In recent years, however, laparoscopy has replaced open surgery for some patients undergoing radical nephrectomy, based on easier convalescence with equivalent cancer control.q

Can you explain the major differences between preferred stock and comon stock?

Use of minimally invasive surgical treatments (MISTs) for BPH has increased tremendously in the past decade, but urologists should be careful about overusing these newer technologies, given the lack of long-term evidence of their efficacy, according to researchers from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Men initially diagnosed with Gleason 7 disease who also had a small area of tertiary cancer seen on biopsy were found to have a more aggressive form of cancer.

Two testosterone gel formulations are efficacious in obese men and those with diabetes, according to separate studies reported at the Endocrine Society annual meeting in San Francisco.

In an attempt to remedy the pressures associated with insurance claims reimbursement for physician services, the American Medical Association has launched the Cure for Claims campaign simultaneously with its first National Health Insurer Report Card on claims processing.

A panel of seven biomarkers can predict with 86% accuracy which prostate cancer patients will experience recurrence and progression of prostate cancer, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas reported in Clinical Cancer Research (2008; 14:3785-91).

The risk of developing prostate cancer among older men who receive testosterone replacement therapy for low testosterone is no greater than it is for similarly aged men not treated with testosterone, according to a study presented at The Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco.

FDA has approved the 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor dutasteride (Avodart) in combination with the alpha-blocker tamsulosin (Flomax) for treatment of symptomatic enlarged prostate. Both drugs had previously been approved individually for treatment of enlarged prostate.

A federal court judge has upheld an effort by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to prevent physicians from administering anatomic pathology diagnostic testing services performed in “pod labs,” rejecting a challenge by Uropath, LLC and several urology groups.

Chances of surviving prostate cancer in men whose tumors recur after prostatectomy are threefold higher for those who undergo radiotherapy within 2 years after recurrence, according to new research findings from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore. In men whose new tumors grew fastest, prolonged survival chances were greatest, researchers reported last week in JAMA (2008; 299:2760-9).

The Sexual Medicine Society of North America has announced a public education program commemorating a decade of treatment for erectile dysfunction: The first tablet to treat ED was introduced 10 years ago.

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has announced initiation of the INTORACT (INvestigation of Torisel and Avastin Combination Therapy) study, a randomized, open-label phase III study comparing temsirolimus (Torisel) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) versus bevacizumab plus interferon-alfa for first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Modern 3-D computed tomography is effective for locating the prostatic apex for radiation therapy treatment planning in prostate cancer patients because it eliminates the need for an invasive procedure and related side effects, according to a study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (2008; 71:51-7).

Researchers at the University of California Davis Children’s Hospital have identified the potential stem cells that become the bladder, adding to the body of research that already has identified stem cells that can regenerate many of the body’s other organs.

The form of tomato product one eats could be the key to unlocking its prostate cancer-fighting potential, researchers from the University of Missouri, Columbia, recently reported in Cancer Research (2008; 68:4384-91).

Older nursing home residents who take cholinesterase inhibitors for dementia and older anticholinergic agents for incontinence concurrently have a 50% faster decline in function than those who are being treated only for dementia, according to a study led by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC.

A new nomogram predicts the probability of a patient being cancer-free 12 years after initial surgical treatment for renal cell carcinoma, according to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The nomogram uses tumor and patient characteristics to maximize predictive accuracy.

A new drug application for a topical gel formulation of oxybutynin chloride in the treatment of overactive bladder has been accepted for filing by the FDA, according to Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the manufacturer.

Individuals with kidney cancer in the United States now are more likely to have their tumor diagnosed in the most treatable stage than they were a decade ago, leading to a slightly higher survival rate, according to a study published in the May 19 online edition of Cancer.

New data show that RAD001 (everolimus) may provide a new treatment option for patients with advanced kidney cancer who have failed standard therapies.

Estrogen-linked signaling helps drive a discrete and aggressive form of prostate cancer caused by a chromosomal translocation, which, in turn, results in the fusion of two genes, researchers report.