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Chicago-The traditional PSA cut-point of 4.0 ng/mL for recommending abiopsy to diagnose prostate cancer is controversial, and some researchershave recommended cut-points as low as 2.0 ng/mL. Two separate studies presentedat the AUA annual meeting here have found that cut-points of 2.5 or 2.6ng/mL may be more appropriate for determining the need for prostate biopsy.

Chicago-A post-treatment PSA doubling time less than 3 months followingeither surgery or radiation for localized or locally advanced prostate cancercan be a surrogate marker for eventual-perhaps inevitable-death from thedisease, according to data from a multicenter study of nearly 9,000 cancerpatients.

Chicago-Once-daily dosing with a single extended-release tablet containingciprofloxacin (Cipro), 1,000 mg, is as safe and effective as conventionalciprofloxacin, 500 mg, dosed twice a day for the treatment of complicatedurinary tract infections and acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis, accordingto the results of a large double-blind study.

Dutasteride would offer absolute risk reduction of up to 27% over 2years, study results show

Employment tax evasion can take a variety of forms, and the IRS is watchingfor themAlthough August is when the Internal Revenue Service traditionally beginsselecting those 2002 tax returns that are to be examined in greater depth,many physicians found themselves being targeted for examination soon afterthe April 15 tax deadline. After all, April 15 was also the deadline forparticipating in the IRS's "Offshore Voluntary Compliance Initiative"(OVCI)-a "come back into the fold and you will be forgiven your taxtransgressions" program.

A catchy headline or photo will grab attention and result in positivepublic relationsHealth and wellness topics are hot, and the media is interested in newmedical technologies, surgical procedures, and diagnostic techniques, aswell as fascinating medical cases with human-interest angles. Never beforehave medical practices had more opportunities for positive media exposure.

Avoid huge photos and flashy graphics, and focus on developing useful,clean content

AUA recommends 51798 any time ultrasound is performed to check for residualurineQ We use the BVI-3000 BladderScan from Diagnostic Ultrasound for residualurine. They show a shadow of amount left in the bladder on a printed report.Is this still considered a non-image? Is there any way we can use 76775using the BVI-3000?

Getting legislation passed by Congress is a complex and frustrating effortfor anyone, but especially for physicians. Our issues benefit patients andour health care system. But not everyone agrees. Physicians compete againstwell-organized special interest groups that contribute millions of dollarsto the political campaigns of our opposition.

During the past decade, serum prostate-specific antigen testing has become widely accepted as a means to improve early detection of prostate cancer. Thousands of studies have been performed to determine the most appropriate use of PSA testing and to improve its accuracy.

Chicago-Watchful waiting is a common approach to prostate cancer, especially in patients who are in the later years of their life. A certain percentage of these men will wait, change their minds, and seek intervention. Extensive research efforts have been devoted to identifying predictors of outcomes after treatment with surgery or radiation therapy, but little is known about the outcome of watchful waiting during the PSA era.

The American Medical Association has recently taken a number of steps to support key physician causes and strengthen the organization internally.

For a number of physicians, providing voluntary care is a natural extension to the professional and personal basis for their choice of career.

Chicago-Recognition of combination drug therapy for selected patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia represents one of several key changes in clinical management embraced by AUA in the organization's first-ever clinical guidelines for BPH.

FDA-approved safety device reduces needlestick injuries: Columbus, OH-The FDA-approved NeedleZap, a safety device that disintegrates the sharp portion of a hypodermic needle to help reduce accidental needlestick injuries, is now available from E Med Future, Inc.

New research on both current and promising new treatments for bladder and prostate cancer, stone disease, and BPH are making headlines at this week's AUA annual meeting. While robotics and other newer technologies took center stage last year, the emphasis at this year's meeting is on comparisons of existing techniques and outcomes data.J. Brantley Thrasher, MD, chair of AUA's Public Media Committee, briefed a group of editors and reporters yesterday on the hot topics to expect over the course of this week's meeting. Among the 1,700 abstracts being presented, these were among the highlights discussed by Dr. Thrasher:

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Nearly all of us use and depend on computers for running and operatingour medical offices. I doubt that many of us could successfully operateour practices without this evolving technology, which adds not only to improvementin the medical care we offer our patients but to the efficiency of our practices.

The lifetime risk of undergoing surgery for incontinence or vaginal prolapsein the United States is nearly one in 11. As our population ages and lifeexpectancies increase, a greater number of women will present with pelvicfloor and voiding disorders. Because of this, there is significant interestin using evidence-based research to assess current diagnostic tools in theevaluation of stress urinary incontinence (SUI), as well as new potentialtreatments.

There are two key elements to successful billing and collection-bothnow and in the future. The first is the accuracy of your documentation andcoding, basically the responsibility of the urologist. The second elementis the billing process, which can be computerized, automated, and performedby others.

Chicago-Two alpha blockers appear to have modest efficacy in treatingchronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome, according to separatestudies presented here at the AUA annual meeting.

Madrid, Spain-Botulinum-A toxin shows positive results as an alternativetreatment of neurogenic detrusor overactivity when oral therapies or intravesicalanticholinergics fail or are intolerable, according to results of four separatestudies presented at the European Association of Urology 18th congress here.The agent, although FDA-approved for the treatment of skin wrinkles andrelated indications, is not approved for detrusor overactivity but has beenused by some U.S. and European urologists for this indication.

New Orleans-Radical prostatectomy, external beam radiation, and brachytherapy achieve comparable rates of relapse-free survival in patients with localized prostate cancer, according to long-term follow-up data on approximately 1,800 patients treated with one of the three therapeutic modalities.

Washington-A Florida urologist is slated to become the highest-ranked health official in Iraq-albeit temporarily.

The inherent limitations of the standard transrectal ultrasound approach for prostate biopsy have led to both diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas.

Chicago-Leading a healthy lifestyle may stop or even reverse the progression of prostate cancer as measured by PSA levels in men undergoing watchful waiting, according to the findings of the first randomized, controlled clinical trial on the subject.

Chicago-Members of the Society of University Urologists have agreed tocreate a new group consisting of U.S.-based urology program directors. Thenew, yet-unnamed organization will have both fund-raising and task-orientedresponsibilities, including assisting programs with new competency requirements,said Robert Flanigan, MD, professor and chairman of the department of urologyat Loyola University, Maywood, IL, who will serve as president of the group.Other officers will include Marc Cohen, MD, of the Medical College ofGeorgia in Augusta; and Michael Koch, MD, of Indiana University, Indianapolis.

Chicago-A study of engineered bladder tissue composed of autologous cellsand polymer scaffolds found that it can be successfully used in dogs, whichhad undergone trigone-sparing cystectomies.

Chicago-Pretreatment testosterone levels correlate with pathologic stagesof prostate cancer and may serve as an independent predictor of extraprostaticdisease in patients initially diagnosed with localized cancers, accordingto a study from the Center for Prostatic Disease Research in Rockville,MD.

Chicago­A retrospective study of more than 36,000 prostate cancerbiopsies found, as expected, that the incidence of prostate cancer variedaccording to PSA levels. But the study's authors also found that the incidenceof prostate cancer was similar for men with PSAs between 2.5 and 4.0 ng/mLand those with PSAs between 4.0 and 10.0 ng/mL.