Intravesical cytosine arabinoside + Mitomycin C for bladder cancer – is it beneficial?

Mitomycin C (MMC) is often used as an intravesical therapy for low / intermediate risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. This randomised controlled trial (RCT) was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of MMC + cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C). Ara-C was...

Prostate biopsies without antibiotic cover – are we there yet?

Transperineal (TP) prostate biopsies are widely replacing the traditional transrectal route due to definite evidence of reduced infective complications. TP biopsies are usually performed with a single dose of antibiotic pre-procedure in most centres. In this article the authors attempt...

Cortical stimulation for voiding dysfunction in multiple sclerosis

Voiding dysfunction (VD) increases morbidity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), and may be associated with urinary tract infections, stones and renal failure. Catheterisation is required when impaired hand function precludes self-catheterisation, which is associated with further morbidity. In this...

Is outpatient robotic surgery feasible in children?

Minimally invasive surgery has helped to achieve shorter hospitalisations, reduce postoperative pain and analgesia requirements and provides better cosmetic results. Robotic urological outpatient surgery has been examined in recent times in the adult population; here Neheman et al. look at...

Preoperative testosterone for hypospadias

Hypospadias affects around 1 in 400 boys. Glans width (GW) of <14mm has been shown to be an independent risk factor for urethroplasty complications following hypospadias repair. Testosterone (T) administration in prepubertal males increases both penile length and circumference. Its...

Biopsy should be considered for older boys (>10 years) undergoing orchidopexy for intra-abdominal testes

Cryptorchidism is associated with a 3 to 10-fold increase in malignancy and the age at which it is undertaken matters; the risk of testicular cancer is doubled in patients undergoing orchidopexy at 13 years of age compared to that treated...

To clamp or not to clamp – outcomes of the CLOCK trial for robotic partial nephrectomy

The benefits of partial over radical nephrectomy are well established. The CLOCK trial (CLamp vs. Off Clamp the Kidney during robotic partial nephrectomy) was designed as a multicentre, randomised controlled trial to generate evidence on the role of the off-clamp...

BUS for urethral stricture

The earliest description of urethral stricture and its treatment occurred in the sixth century BC in India. A wide variety of factors can lead to stricture disease e.g. iatrogenic, urinary tract infection (UTI), sexually transmitted infections, catheters, trauma to the...

Effects of orchidopexy upon testicular temperature

The undescended testis (cryptorchidism) is the most common correctable disorder in paediatric urology (1-4.6% of newborns). An important role of the scrotum is to keep the temperature of the testes 2-40C below core body temperature. Here, Shiraishi et al. from...

Upper tract urothelial carcinoma following cystectomy

Metachronous upper tract urothelial cancer (UTUC) is encountered in about 5% of patients after radical cystectomy (RC) with a median time to diagnosis of 24-36 months after RC, and most are asymptomatic and detected by surveillance protocols. In this multivariate...

Is Retzius-sparing prostatectomy the way forward?

Urinary incontinence is a common complication of conventional robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). Retzius-sparing RARP is performed through the pouch of Douglas to avoid destroying the pelvic fascia and the prostate’s anatomical structures. It has shown early favourable results in terms...

Is robotic pyeloplasty in the under-ones as good as open repair?

Pelviureteric junction obstruction (PUJO) is a common cause of paediatric hydronephrosis. Indications for intervention include reduced renal function (<40%), symptoms (urinary tract infection or pain) and increasing dilatation. Although the Anderson-Hynes open pyeloplasty (OP) has long been the gold standard...