Post-RP radiation improves progression-free survival
January 1st 2006Paris--External irradiation immediately following radical prostatectomy appears to improve biochemical progression-free survival and local control in prostate cancer patients at high risk of progression, according to results of a study from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).
Immunotherapy shows survival advantage in advanced prostate cancer
January 1st 2006Paris--Results of a second phase III trial suggest that a still-investigational immunotherapy agent offers a survival benefit in men with asymptomatic metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer. Survival data from the more recent study support the findings of the first phase III trial of the agent, APC8015, also known as sipuleucel-T (Provenge), researchers reported at the European Cancer Conference here.
Pinpointing erectile dysfunction cause offers little help in drug choice
January 1st 2006New York--Differential diagnosis of erectile dysfunction doesn't appear worth the effort when selecting a drug for treatment: No meaningful difference in the effect of the three available phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitors was seen among men in a clinical trial, regardless of the cause of their ED, according to Hartmut Porst, MD.
Lap partial nephrectomy results improve with experience
January 1st 2006Amsterdam, Netherlands--Researchers performing removal of challenging renal tumors using laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) in 300 consecutive cases have found that, compared with the first 100 cases, blood loss and overall complications decreased despite increased complexity of treating surgically difficult small renal tumors.
Calcitriol-chemo combo improves prostate cancer survival
January 1st 2006Paris--Adding a form of high-dose calcitriol to docetaxel (Taxotere) offers improved survival over docetaxel alone in men with metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer, according to results of a multicenter trial presented at the 13th European Cancer Conference (ECCO-13) here. Further, the addition of the calcitriol formulation, known as DN-101, to the chemotherapy agent produced an unanticipated advantage in a reduced number of serious gastrointestinal and thromboembolic adverse events.
Small renal masses grow slowly; surveillance is key
January 1st 2006Philadelphia--Enhancing renal masses are all presumed to be renal cell carcinoma until proven otherwise. While surgery remains the gold standard, those that are watched instead of excised carry a relatively low risk of metastasis. Unfortunately, size on presentation cannot tell clinicians about their true growth potential. Because not all enhancing renal masses are RCC, those that are, in fact, carcinomas grow faster than the masses left in place. Those are the conclusions of two different studies on the natural history of renal masses, one, a meta-analysis of the world literature and the other, an analysis of one center's experience.
Hands-on lap course has 'high impact' on practices
January 1st 2006Amsterdam, Netherlands--Participants in an AUA-sponsored laparoscopic videotape mentoring course, offered as part of a skills-based learning course, report an increase in their laparoscopic caseload and in the performance of clinical laparoscopic suturing.
Ureteroscopy trainers show similar effectiveness
January 1st 2006Amsterdam, Netherlands--A model-based training format and an interactive virtual reality simulator trainer that were developed to teach basic ureteroscopy skills showed no significant points of difference when compared in use by inexperienced medical students, reported researchers from the University of California, Irvine.
Robot-assisted trend continues to grow
January 1st 2006Amsterdam, Netherlands--Open radical prostatectomy remains the standard surgical approach for the management of localized prostate adenocarcinoma, but recent data show that this may be changing. As robot-assisted surgery becomes more prevalent in the urologic community, practice patterns appear to be shifting from open radical prostatectomy toward robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.
Patients are still unsure about robotic technology
January 1st 2006Amsterdam, Netherlands--The extent to which American patients comprehend the technology behind robot-assisted radical prostatectomy is surprisingly limited, according to a prospective questionnaire evaluation from St. Peter's Hospital, Albany, NY.
Obese men quickly regain continence after lap RP
January 1st 2006Amsterdam, Netherlands--An increased body mass index has been shown to confound the outcome of numerous surgical treatments. The effect of BMI on cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, cancer mortality, and blood loss during radical surgery is well documented. Less clear is the effect of BMI on laparoscopic surgery, including laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.
Excising peri-renal fat essential in pT2, pT3a tumors
January 1st 2006Amsterdam, Netherlands--Preoperative computed tomography scans may be inconclusive in distinguishing between stage pT2 and pT3a renal tumors. When performing laparoscopic partial nephrectomy, surgeons from the Cleveland Clinic recommend removing all peri-nephritic fat during the excision of locally advanced tumors, a step that they say is essential in duplicating open surgical oncologic principles.
NIH institutes launch effort to explore cancer genomics
December 16th 2005The National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute have launched a comprehensive effort to accelerate the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through genome analysis technologies, especially large-scale genome sequencing.
Stem cell activity may play role in testicular cancer
December 16th 2005Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have discovered that the activity of several embryonic stem cell genes is elevated in testicular cancer, providing some of the first molecular evidence of a link between embryonic stem cells and cancer.
Life after Katrina: 'We can move on,' urologists say
December 1st 2005New Orleans--Hurricane Katrina has come and gone and in its wake we are left with devastation, carnage, and sadness. The region has more than 6,000 displaced physicians, and 156 AUA members have practices in the affected areas, according to AUA.
OAB drug improves LUTS after alpha-blocker therapy
December 1st 2005Extended-release tolterodinetartate (Detrol LA) significantly improves lower urinary tract storage symptoms from baseline in men after unsuccessful treatment with alpha-blocker therapy, according to a study published in the current Journal of Urology (2005; 174:2273-5).
Amendments planned for prostate cancer immunotherapy trial
December 1st 2005Dendreon Corp. has reached an agreement with the FDA under the Special Protocol Assessment procedure to amend the design of its ongoing phase III (D9902B) clinical trial of sipuleucel-T (Provenge), the company?s investigational active cellular immunotherapy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.
Smaller ambulatory surgery centers report higher net incomes
December 1st 2005Smaller ambulatory surgery centers continue to report better net incomes per case than their larger counterparts, while larger ASCs report lower operating costs, according to a newly released report from the Medical Group Management Association.