Features
MRI screening for prostate cancer: a step towards a ‘prostagram’
The UK National Screening Committee has been calling for further research into alternative screening tests for prostate cancer. The committee decided against prostate cancer screening using prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing on the basis that “PSA is still a poor...
Prostate cancer nurse specialist shortage: a view from the coal face
Prostate Cancer UK recently reported that there is an impending crisis for men with prostate cancer, simply because the number of nurse specialists available is insufficient for their needs [1]. Background As has been widely reported, the incidence of prostate...
Burnout: an increasing problem in urology
“What we mean, man,” said Chuck forcefully, “is this: how can we care for patients if nobody cares for us?” – Samuel Shem, The House of God, 1978. Samuel Shem’s (Steven Bergman, MD) satirical novel The House of God, has...
Mechanisms and prevention of catheterisation associated urethral injury (CAUI)
Urethral catheterisation is a common procedure performed by health professionals across different grades and specialties in a variety of clinical settings. An estimated 15-25% of hospitalised patients have a urinary catheter inserted during their inpatient stay and up to 13%...
PREDICT Prostate – individualised, evidence-based estimates of survival and treatment benefit
Earlier this year ‘PREDICT Prostate’ was launched online alongside a high-profile publication in PLOS Medicine. The prognostic model and decision-aid has been designed to inform treatment decision-making among men newly diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer. David Thurtle and Vincent Gnanapragasam...
The conservative assessment and treatment of mixed urinary and anal incontinence in women: a multidisciplinary approach
Mixed urinary incontinence Urinary incontinence (UI) is considered to be a highly prevalent condition; however, depending upon the definitions used, actual reported prevalence rates can vary significantly. The International Consultation on Incontinence (ICI) review [1], reported unadjusted prevalence estimates for...
Modern management of small renal masses
With the advent of widespread cross-sectional imaging there has been a surge in incidental detection of small renal masses (SRMs) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is now the seventh most common cancer in the UK. Whilst surgical excision for larger...
Is laparoscopic urological training in Sub-Saharan Africa a goal worth pursuing? Observations from my experience with IVUmed in Senegal
Laparoscopic surgery has developed at an unimaginable pace over the last three decades. The first laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed by Dr Phillip Mouret in France in 1987, with the first series of 63 cases published in 1989 [1]. However, its...
A guide to percutaneous nephrolithotomy
Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is now the gold standard approach to treating large renal stones. Since its development in the 1970s, it has undergone a series of refinements that could only have been possible with the symbiosis of both radiological and...
Artificial penile pearls: what every Urologist should know!
Penile implants are inert objects placed beneath the skin of the penis through an incision. These are variously referred to as Yakuza beads, pearls, ball bearings, speed bumps, penile marbles, inserts, etc. The term ‘penile implant’ described here should not...
Mesh in urological surgery in the UK – background, reviews and current status
All UK urologists, unless they have been on a 10-year silent retreat, are by now aware of the controversy surrounding surgical use of mesh in general and urological / urogynaecological use of mesh for the surgical treatment of stress urinary...
Immunotherapy in renal cancer
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the sixth most common solid organ cancer in the UK. In 2018, there were 403,262 people diagnosed worldwide with the disease (2.2% of all cancer cases), and it accounted for 175,098 deaths in total (1.8%...
