Journal Reviews
Abiraterone plus prednisone in metastatic, castration-sensitive prostate cancer
Abiraterone acetate, the prodrug of abiraterone, blocks endogenous androgen synthesis by inhibiting cytochrome p-450c17, a critical enzyme in androgen biosynthesis. Its active D4A metabolite also has anti-tumour effects through possibly multiple mechanisms. 3-5% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in...
Long-term oncologic outcomes of salvage cryoablation for rrPC
Of patients undergoing radiotherapy (RT) for prostate cancer (PC), at least 15-20% will experience recurrence. Although salvage prostatectomy achieves durable oncological outcomes at 10 years, it is associated with significantly high morbidity. Thus, the majority of men with radio-recurrent prostate...
Bedside teaching
All of us are involved in the teaching and training of under or postgraduate medical students and nurses. This article gives a patient’s perspective and thoughts on being an ‘interesting’ patient within a ward or clinic setting. Important points to...
Prognostic impact of preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio after radical prostatectomy
Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio has been shown to be a prognostic factor in a number of different cancers. This is one of the largest studies to date to evaluate its effect on overall survival in patients who have undergone radical prostatectomy (RP)...
ABU joins BCG in fight against NMIBC recurrence?
The authors test a hypothesis retrospectively in two cohorts of patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), that endogenous bacteria in the bladder might exert antitumour effects, similar to live mycobacteria (BCG), through local immune-related or other mechanisms, on NMIBC...
PET imaging of prostate-specific membrane antigen in prostate cancer
Molecular imaging utilising prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) as a target has increasingly been mentioned at key conferences and meetings. PSMA is a membrane metalloenzyme that is overexpressed in prostate cancer, with the degree of expression appears to correlate with tumour...
Vasectomy and prostate cancer
Urologists are always trying to identify risk factors for prostate cancer (CaP). This population-based study is from Ontario, Canada. The study sample comprised nearly 300,000 men who underwent vasectomy and an equal number who did not. The primary outcome was...
PSM increases risk of recurrence after PN for high-risk renal tumours
Positive surgical margins (PSM) for solid organ malignancies are associated with adverse oncological outcomes. However, for RCC the prognostic significance of PSM after partial nephrectomies (PN) remains a matter of debate. As PN is more increasingly being used to excise...
Urology patient assessment – importance of holistic approach – new paradigm
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) seems to affect 30% of the general population above 65 and its presence has a wide range of significance. This is a prospective single centre study to look at MCI in adult urological patients above 18...
Male genital mysteries
Every now and then urologists are asked to give an opinion on genital lesions and rashes. This article from University College Hospital London is certainly worth a read. Most conditions are benign but some are precancerous leading to penile cancer...
Characteristics of APC and the usefulness of MP-MRI for diagnosis
The authors evaluated the pathological and oncological characteristics of anteriorly located prostate cancer (APC) in 728 RP specimens, and the accuracy of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MP-MRI) for APC evaluation. Patients were characterised as APC (70% or more of tumour...
Impact of MetS on prostate cancer (PCa)
Metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of finding prostate cancer (PCa) overall and high-grade disease on biopsy. The first objective was to determine if MetS is associated with higher final PCa stage and grade on radical prostatectomy (RP)...
