By Quentin Mak, Head of Secretariat; Aqua Asif, Head of Communications; Cameron Alexander, Co Vice-Chair; and Arjun Nathan, Co- Chair, BURST.
BAUS is a cornerstone in the British Urological Researchers in Surgical Training (BURST) calendar. The conference offers BURST the opportunity to showcase and disseminate our latest work. Over the course of three sunny days (16–18 June) in Manchester, BURST hosted three sessions, one on each day covering the full spectrum of urology and gained interest from a large, diverse audience.
Session one
Day one kicked off with the editor-in-chief of BJUI, Professor Freddie Hamdy delivering a keynote speech on misinformation in research. His key message to the audience was to be careful of short snippet summaries of up-to-date evidence in social media: you cannot be confident about evidence unless it has been peer-reviewed and read in full, using the latest topic of prostate cancer screening as an example. Following this, an esteemed panel of experts flagged the 'fake news' in every urological sub-specialty. In view of the topical discussion point of 'fake news', session one focused on 'fact vs. myths' in urology – debunking established practice without an evidence base. We invited esteemed guests such Mr J Aning to provide examples of routine clinical practice within their subspecialty that do not stand up to modern day evidence-based scrutiny. We would like to highlight Miss T Greenwell’s entertaining talk on the inaccuracies of the NHS website’s recommendations on preventing UTIs; there is no evidence to suggest that post-void wiping technique impacts UTI frequency. The session concluded with BURST’s introduction of the LANDMARK project, delivered by Mr C Alexander (Co-Vice Chair). LANDMARK is our wiki-style educational platform, providing short summaries with key learning points of important studies in urology. Perfect for clinicians who want to keep up to date!
Prof F Hamdy on misinformation.
Session two
Continuing our long-standing partnership with The Urology Foundation (TUF), our second session was an X-Factor style research-pitching competition co-hosted with the TUF trials unit under Prof R Heer. After a rigorous initial selection process involving 20+ applications, five fantastic candidates presented their ideas in front of an esteemed panel. The ideas ranged from the development of an online decision-aid tool for BPH treatment, to an audit of MRI scanning capacity within the country in view of research into prostate screening rollout. Keep a look-out for these exciting projects and how they can change your clinical practice!
1. Smart BPH Decision Aid Tool: Mr M El-Bahnasawi.
2. Adjunct and Follow on Therapies after Endoscopic Renal stone Surgery – the AFTERS Study: Mr D Thurle.
3. National audit of prostate MRI scanning capacity and quality: Mr A Dudko.
4. ‘IN WHERE…?!’ Improving patient understanding and experience of outpatient urological procedures using Patient Information Videos: Miss H Stephens.
5. Project K– Building Insights to Drive a National Campaign on Prevention and Awareness of Ketamine Bladder Syndrome: Mr A Abdelrahman.
Mr D Thurtle on the AFTERS study.
Session three
Session three concluded our time at BAUS 2025 with a fantastic debate and roundtable discussion on the management of emergency haematuria by a panel of esteemed experts. The session began with a fiery head-to-head debate between Mr B Challacombe (For) and Miss B Szabados (Against) on the statement “ongoing haematuria after 24 hours should be taken to the emergency theatre”. Both sides were incredibly convincing, but the audience poll did not demonstrate a clear winner! This was followed by the presentation of the preliminary results of our latest landmark trial: WASHOUT. WASHOUT aims to describe and compare the current practices of inpatient management of haematuria. Our preliminary data shows that nationally, length of stay due to inpatient haematuria is incredibly variable region to region! The session concluded with a roundtable discussion from an all-star MDT cast recounting their worst cases of haematuria and how they managed them. Examples included cystectomy from Prof J Catto to open packing from Miss C Dunford.
Mr R Barod on managing upper tract haematuria.
Not to forget, we had a fantastic BURST dinner courtesy of Medac pharma. BAUS 2025 was an action-packed conference with a good mix of research showcase and entertaining discussions. We will be back with a vengeance at BAUS 2026 – we have already begun our preparations! See you next year in London.
Project updates
Please see below for updates from our latest projects.
WASHOUT: Ward AdmiSsion of Haematuria: an Observational Multicentre Study
WASHOUT is our current landmark trial aiming to characterise management practices of emergency haematuria globally, with the objective of informing best practices. We have recruited 300+ institutions and more than 7000+ patients globally. The trial is now closed to sign-up of new institutions, but collection of patient follow-up data has begun. WASHOUT will complete at the end of 2025. Stay tuned at EAU and AUA to find out more regarding preliminary results from the study!
MIMIC Validation: A Multi-centre Cohort Study Evaluating the role of Inflammatory Markers in Patients Presenting with Acute Ureteric Colic
The BURST team has created a calculator for predicting spontaneous stone passage following the publication of our MIMIC trial results in 2019. We have begun recruiting centres to assist with the validation of this calculator. Please contact us on mimic@bursturology.com to contribute and receive Pubmed indexed collaborator authorship.
LANDMARK: Evidence Review of Key Papers in Urology
LANDMARK is BURST’s wiki-style website that summarises key papers in urology into easy-to-digest snippets with take-home messages. Perfect for practising urologists and residents preparing for exams to keep up to date with the latest evidence underpinning modern clinical practice. LANDMARK is freely available and welcoming new contributions to complete our database.
