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The Senate last week unanimously approved the nomination of FDA commissioner Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

With construction having started last month, the first independent lithotripsy facility in Queens is slated to open this summer at Utopia Center, a mixed-use property located in Flushing, NY.

The University of Cincinnati department of surgery named James F. Donovan Jr, MD, chief of its division of urology.

A major breakthrough in the field of prostate cancer research was announced last summer. For the first time in a randomized clinical trial, a drug was found to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Widely reported headlines such as "Drug might prevent prostate cancer, researchers say" (USA Today, June 25, 2003, page 1) were tempered by reports of the drug's "disturbing" side effects.

Unique obturator approach treats stress incontinence Somerville, NJ Gynecare introduces the TVT Obturator System Tension-free support, a surgical device for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence.

Chicago--Therapeutic cloning can be used to generate immune-compatible renal cells, according to the results of a collaborative study from the Laboratory for Tissue Engineering, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, and Advanced Cell Technology, Worcester, MA. The technique may be used to engineer renal tissue for autologous applications, researchers suggest.

New Orleans-After 17 years of positive experience, Italian urologists consider endoscopic treatment their first-line approach for children with vesicoureteral reflux.

Error rate of 5.3% is below national average compared with other majorspecialties

Discrepancy may be due to a reporting bias; testis-sparing approach recommended

Ralph Straffon, MD, a urologist and retired chief of staff at the Cleveland Clinic, died Jan. 22.

A phase II study comparing the onset of action of two oral phosphodiesterase-type 5 inhibitors?TA-1790, an investigational agent and sildenafil citrate (Viagra) showed comparable results, according to VIVUS, Inc., maker of TA-1790.

Up to 40% of men with prostate cancer have a virus in their blood that, until now, has been linked to relatively rare cancers, new research from the University of Pittsburgh shows.

Most men over the age of 40 years attempt to protect themselves against prostate cancer, according to a new survey by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University?s Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

Death rates continue to level off for prostate cancer and the two other leading cancer killers in men?lung and colon cancer?according to the American Cancer Society?s report, "Cancer Facts & Figures 2004."

Las Vegas--An in-office bladder cancer test is significantly more sensitive than cytology at detecting the disease in high-risk patients, report community-based urologists from Anchorage, AK. The test also appears to be effective at determining risk of recurrence in patients with known disease, at least in the short term.

Las Vegas--Which material is better for pelvic floor reconstruction: allografts or synthetic mesh? If you ask two of urology's leading pelvic floor surgeons, each will provide a very different answer. Gary Leach, MD, a proponent of allografts, and Shlomo Raz, MD, a proponent of synthetic slings, made their points known in a verbal face-off at the AUA Western Section annual meeting here

Las Vegas--Radical cystectomy has a different risk profile in women than men, a difference that should be addressed during preoperative patient counseling, say investigators at Stanford (CA) Medical Center.

Las Vegas--The development of a robot-assisted method for laparoscopic radical prostatectomy could lessen morbidity, cut recovery times, and shorten the learning curve for urologists who have not been trained in the procedure.

Las Vegas--Obesity in prostate cancer patients is associated withhigher-grade tumors, cancer recurrence, and more aggressive disease, recentstudies have shown. The research has prompted some urologists to suggestusing body mass index (BMI) as a marker for early screening and treatment.Others suggest that further studies should be undertaken to determine ifweight loss may, in fact, lower prostate cancer risk.

Las Vegas--Brachytherapy is a growing treatment choice for menwith low-risk prostate cancer, although it is still selected by less than22% of men with the disease, according to San Francisco researchers. Theuse of androgen ablation has also increased, the researchers found in ananalysis of data from the CaPSURE database.

Urologist Ramsay L. Kuo, MD, has joined the department of urology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, with an appointment as assistant professor of urology, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.

A group of three leading cancer centers has developed guidelines to determine which prostate cancer patients at risk for relapse should participate in a clinical trial and which compounds are appropriate in these studies.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has announced a request for applications (RFA) for a study entitled, "Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome: Epidemiology" (RFA-DK-04-009).

A sustained-release anticholinergic drug provides appears to be beneficial in the reduction of urge incontinence for patients with either severe or moderate symptoms of overactive bladder, according to results of a study published in the February issue of The Journal of Urology (2004; 171:752-6).

Anthony Atala, MD, a pediatric urologist and internationally recognized leader in tissue engineering, has joined Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC.

There is no causal relationship between testosterone replacement and prostate cancer or heart disease risk, according to a retrospective analysis by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine (2004; 350:482-92).

The last few years have witnessed an enormous interest in androgen replacement therapy for late-onset hypogonadism-also known as "androgen deficiency in the aging male." As urologists, we frequently deal with sexual dysfunction and are seen as experienced on issues of prostate health.

Montreal--Laparoscopic nephroureterectomy is becoming a widely utilized option in the surgical treatment of upper tract transitional cell carcinoma. As more centers accrue larger series with longer follow-up, assessment of surgical as well as oncologic results is possible and necessary.