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For most of her life, former Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton suffered from severe urgency and frequency related to overactive bladder. It wasn't until she consulted a urologist just over a year ago that Retton, now 37, received relief from her sometimes debilitating symptoms.Retton has gone public with her personal struggle in a campaign backed by Pfizer. She said she hopes her own experience will help others with the condition seek proper care.

A new laparoscopic ultrasound probe recently cleared for market by the FDA is being offered as an option on Endocare, Inc.'s Cryocare CS System.

Findings from two studies presented at the AUA meeting here yesterday provide further evidence that obesity negatively affects prostate and bladder cancer outcomes.

A study estimating the dispensation rate of interacting medications to an outpatient population found that while only 0.05% of patients received co-prescriptions for medications that could potentially cause adverse effects, about half of these were given were for sildenafil citrate (Viagra) and one of two different nitrates.

The adverse side effects of hormone therapy in prostate cancer patients may be more severe and may manifest sooner than many believe, according to two separate studies discussed here yesterday.

Genitofemoral (GF) nerve grafting during radical retropubic prostatectomy can be performed safely with a low risk of postoperative morbidity and shows promising efficacy for returning erectile function after surgery involving wide nerve resection, according to the results of a retrospective study undertaken by urologists from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.

Dapoxetine, the first treatment developed specifically for premature ejaculation, has no significant interaction when taken concurrently with the type-5 phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitors sildenafil citrate (Viagra) and tadalafil (Cialis), according to results presented here yesterday.

Data from two separate phase II studies show docetaxel (Taxotere) to be an increasingly promising therapy in the more advanced and aggressive forms of prostate cancer.One study of the agent in prostatectomy patients at high risk of recurrence showed that the drug, administered intravenously, was well tolerated with only two (2.6%) of the 77 patients in the trial experiencing grade IV toxicity (hyperglycemia).

Patients with clinical T3 (cT3) disease are often better off having surgery than going directly to a radiation oncologist, according to a new study.The typical cT3 prostate cancer patient's survival rate is about 79% at 15 years for those who undergo radical prostatectomy , about the same rate as it is at 5 years after radiation therapy without surgery, according to senior study investigator Horst Zincke, MD, PhD, urologist and director of uro-oncologic surgery at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

PSA level remains an excellent marker for prostate cancer, and PSA velocity (PSAV) can be used to determine when to perform a biopsy, according to William J. Catalona, MD, professor of urology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago.

Prostate cancer studies that compare contemporary outcomes with historic controls should be viewed with the understanding that Gleason scores quietly have been climbing for the past 10 years. This observation is more than a curiosity because clinicians and others use Gleason scores to stage cancers and establish prognoses, and epidemiologists apply them to end results when trying to determine the effect that procedures and therapies have on outcomes.

Detrusor botulism A (BTX-A) toxin injections may be an effective, safe treatment option in patients experiencing overactive bladder (OAB) refractory to other treatments, according to a Swiss study presented yesterday.

Biopsy rates, which had soared early in the 1990s with the introduction of the PSA assay, have fallen dramatically and the incidence of prostate cancer has stabilized, according to a study from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Findings from a retrospective analysis of men presenting for prostate biopsy because of elevated PSA indicate that an appreciable subset of this population is hypogonadal and suggest those men undergo biopsy at a relatively lower PSA cut-off relative to eugonadal men. Thus, correcting PSA density (PSAD) based on serum testosterone level may improve specificity for cancer detection in men with elevated PSA.

Men with larger prostates seem less likely than those with smaller glands to be diagnosed with high-grade cancer at biopsy. However, that size-related difference may reflect sampling artifact, as prostate volume appears not to be a significant predictor of true histologic grade, according to a retrospective study by urologists at the University of Toronto.

Travel expert Arthur Frommer has partnered with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. to develop "Where to Stop & Where to Go: A Guide to Traveling with Overactive Bladder in the United States." Available free to people across the United States, the Frommer-authored guide is part of a new educational campaign designed to help people with OAB build confidence about traveling instead of limiting travel because of their condition.

Although routine, the practice of automatically reviewing pathology slides that accompany referred bladder cancer patients nets little gain for physicians or patients. In an overwhelming majority of instances, the practice does little more than add unnecessarily to the cost of treatment, according to a study presented here yesterday.

Measurement of two cytokines in expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) might provide diagnostic guidance for patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS), according to a study presented at the AUA annual meeting.

Use of the daVinci robot (Intuitive Surgical, Sunnyvale, CA) for radical prostatectomy procedures is not profitable, according to research presented here yesterday by a team at the University of Rochester Medical Center. However, the researchers say that the costs associated with robotic procedures must eventually come down since the technology is here to stay.

Ongoing research on a variety of fronts has yet to make a revolutionary impact on the management of localized prostate cancer, but changes are likely on the horizon, according to Richard D. Williams, MD.

Management of kidney cancer is advancing on several fronts, and this theme of continued progress is well illustrated by research being presented at the AUA annual meeting, said Robert C. Flanigan, MD.

Management of kidney cancer is advancing on several fronts, and this theme of continued progress is well illustrated by research being presented at the AUA annual meeting, said Robert C. Flanigan, MD.

When Stephen Y. Nakada, MD, chairman of the department of urology at the University of Wisconsin, looks to the future, he sees increasing use of robotics, advances in ureteroscope technology that will bring more flexibility and greater clarity to imaging, and the use of computer-driven simulators that will allow both novice and experienced surgeons to learn new skills and hone old ones.

Ongoing research on a variety of fronts has yet to make a revolutionary impact on the management of localized prostate cancer, but changes are likely on the horizon, according to Richard D. Williams, MD.

Kingston, Ontario--An interstitial cystitis (IC) drug has shown modest benefit in men with chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS). Although the study doesn't open new therapeutic doors, it does raise interesting questions about how similar IC and CPPS may be or whether some men are being misdiagnosed.

Seattle--Physician Micro Systems, Inc. (PMSI) offers the Practice Partner line of electronic health record, practice management, and computerized physician order entry software applications for ambulatory care practices. The company says Practice Partner applications are used by over 1,300 practices of all sizes and specialties.

Charleston, SC--A two-component synthetic tissue sealant may serve as a viable alternative to current standard suturing techniques used in collecting system repair, according to researchers from Duke University, Durham, NC. Their research used a swine model to compare two FDA-approved sealants and traditional suturing.

Istanbul, Turkey--The phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor vardenafil (Levitra) significantly improves sexual pleasure and treatment satisfaction in both men with erectile dysfunction and their partners, according to study results presented at the European Association of Urology annual congress here.