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Bloomington, IN-Cook Medical has developed the BIGopsy biopsy forceps that capture specimens of sufficient size to produce accurate biopsy results without need for additional samples. The forceps' oversized jaw design and patented backloading handle obtain specimens up to four times larger than those available with traditional forceps, and the 2.4F sheath offers greater flow than do standard 3F sheaths.

The Correct Coding Initiative (CCI), which powers the AUAcodingtoday.com bundling matrix, indicates that the cystoscopy (52000) is bundled into the sling (57288), and that unbundling is never allowed.

Urinary incontinence can be effectively treated with ultrasonography-guided injections of autologous myoblasts and fibroblasts, with long-term results up to 4 years after treatment.

Adequate lymphadenectomy is critical to the evaluation and staging of patients with many types of malignancies, including prostate cancer.

With rising health care costs and the increasing expense of the robotic platform, many believe that robotic prostatectomy must prove superior to its open counterpart in some way other than convalescence alone.

The Van Velthoven suspended running suture technique used for vesicourethral anastomosis after a laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is very effective.

Urologists who believe that women electing surgery for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) are unlikely to have voiding problems should re-examine their conclusions.

Two-year results of the prospective, randomized Stress Incontinence Surgical Treatment Efficacy Trial (SISTEr) show significantly higher success rates in women who undergo the rectus fascial pubovaginal sling procedure compared to those in women who receive a Burch colposuspension.

Robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy provides very promising functional and oncologic results, and may very well be the future in minimally invasive techniques in the treatment of localized prostate cancer.

There is a strong association between family history of cancer and prostate cancer screenings, according to research from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Bethesda, MD.

The American Cancer Society has opened enrollment for a large-scale population-based study focused on cancer and its genetic and environmental connections.

Injection of a gene therapy vector in rats with erectile dysfunction enabled the return of normal function within 4 weeks, according to a study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The research may be the first step in developing a new mode of long-term ED treatment, researchers say.

Treatment failure in patients at high risk for prostate cancer is primarily local, with a markedly low metastatic failure incidence, researchers from the Southwest Oncology Group recently reported. Further, at all postsurgical PSA levels, additional radiation to the prostate bed lowers metastatic disease risk and biochemical failure.

For patients with localized prostate cancer, the type of specialist seen may affect the type of therapy they receive, according to a study from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Specifically, men between the ages of 65 to 69 years who see a urologist would have a greater likelihood of undergoing prostate surgery, but those who consult both a radiation oncologist and a urologist- regardless of age-would likely receive radiation therapy.

Physicians are expected to face severe Medicare cuts in 2008 and beyond, which, ultimately, will interfere with patients’ ability to see physicians, a new American Medical Association survey indicates.

A new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate, The Voluntary Medicare Quality Reporting Act of 2007, S. 1519, is being applauded by the Washington-based Alliance of Specialty Medicine, which has sought such a reporting system with a phase-in period.

Urologist Freddy A. Camuzzi, MD, 60, of Largo, FL, died when the single-engine airplane he was piloting crashed at a remote mountain airstrip in North Carolina. Charles R. "Chas" Freeble, III, MD, 59, a St. Petersburg, FL, cardiologist and internist, and Kathleen Campbell Freeble, 59, Dr. Freeble's wife, were also killed in the crash, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

During the month of June, which is Men's Health Month, the Erectile Dysfunction Institute is encouraging all men who experience erectile dysfunction to discuss their symptoms with visits to their physicians.

A pre-treatment rate of PSA velocity of more than 2.0 ng/mL per year is strongly associated with a high risk of death from prostate cancer, a study to be published in the July 1 issue of Cancer suggests. Elevated PSA velocity was a stronger poor prognostic factor than any other single high-risk indicator, such as a biopsy Gleason score greater than 7, a PSA level of 10.0 ng/mL, or an advanced disease category.

While regular multivitamin use is not linked with early or localized prostate cancer, taking too many multivitamins may be associated with an increased risk for advanced prostate cancers, according to a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2007; 99:754-64).

Dendreon Corp. said it has received confirmation that the FDA will accept either a positive interim or final analysis of survival from its ongoing IMPACT (Immunotherapy for Prostate AdenoCarcinoma Treatment) study to amend the biologics license application (BLA) for sipuleucel-T (Provenge), a form of immunotherapy in late-stage development for the treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

The FDA has approved the enzyme inhibitor temsirolimus (Torisel) for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma.

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Sex is important to men and women worldwide, according to findings from a large global survey, yet a significant proportion of men and women are not completely satisfied with their sex lives.

Results from a recent study that systematically analyzed the data of placebo-controlled trials in patients with BPH confirm that BPH is a progressive disease on the basis of worsening prostate volume, maximum urinary flow, and symptom score, as well as the rate of prostate-related surgery and acute urinary retention.

Value-based purchasing actually has little to do with outcomes in patient care, and has more to do with cost-containment in health care delivery.