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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.

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.

The results of a recent study demonstrate that treatment with alpha-blockers has a positive effect on several debilitating symptoms associated with urination in patients receiving double-J stents.

The federal government is pressing forward with an initiative launched by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) to implement a national system of electronic prescriptions intended to increase both efficiency and patient safety.

A new continuous wave thulium laser device appears to offer a safe, bloodless, effective, and expeditious outpatient surgical procedure for men with BPH.

Interest in international real estate is increasing because, as is often the case with investors, it recently has done very well from a performance standpoint.

Most urologists have patients who come from many different backgrounds, speak different languages, and have different attitudes toward Western medicine.

The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) is a program established at the end of last year to provide incentive funding for physicians to begin submitting data that will be used to make Medicare a smarter purchaser of health care.

This article centers around the rationale and outcomes of the converse issue; namely, removal of metastatic extrarenal foci of RCC.

Research has shown that penile hemodynamic findings are related to vascular risk factors.

Obesity is definitively associated with both metabolic alterations and urinary stone recurrence.

Results of an Italian study comparing transobturator suburethral tape (TOT) and tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) show both surgical techniques to be equally efficient at a follow-up of nearly 3 years in women suffering from stress urinary incontinence.

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.

Many physicians are concerned and confused about all the discussion on pay for performance, and urologists are no exception.

Preliminary results from the REDUCE (REduction by DUtasteride of prostate Cancer Events) trial suggest a relationship between the degree of chronic inflammation and lower urinary tract symptoms, but not clinical prostatitis-like symptoms in the REDUCE population.