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Practising surgery in a war zone: an interview with Dr Volodymyr Melnyk

It is now nine months since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine commenced in late February 2022, with Putin announcing a “special military operation” to “denazify and demilitarise” Ukraine. The rest of the world, however, saw it for what it...

Prostate artery embolisation

Introduction Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a common condition associated with ageing, affects 50% of those between the ages of 50 and 60 years, and as many as 90% of those older than 80 years. BPH is characterised by unregulated, benign...

The pioneer women in British urology

In this series of articles I am going to show you some of the exhibits contained in the Museum of Urology, hosted on the BAUS website (www.baus.org.uk). This month, I am joined by Kassie Ball, a urology trainee, who approached...

Robotic assisted perineal prostatectomy: descriptive technique of the inaugural case in the UK

Robotic surgery has taken full flight in the USA since its start in 2000 [1] and is replacing procedures where open surgical techniques were solely employed. While this technology is met with criticism over the costs, the superiority of robotic...

Suprapubic catheterisation – a core surgical trainee’s perspective

Suprapubic catheters (SPCs) are in widespread usage in medical practice and this review will focus on the pre-assessment, indications, methods and complications that are associated with the insertion of an SPC. Although suprapubic catheter insertions may be done electively or...

The Mitrofanoff procedure: a continent revolution

Prior to 1980, surgeons had been struggling to provide a catheterisable, continent channel as an alternative to the native urethra, primarily for paediatric patients with congenital neuropathic bladder. In 1980, Professor Paul Mitrofanoff described the continent supravesical antireflux appendicovesicostomy [1]...

Biomarkers in prostate cancer detection

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer in men with an estimated prevalence of 1.1 million worldwide in 2012. This heterogeneous disease resulted in approximately 307,000 deaths, making it the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death in men...

Ketamine uropathy – an update

The first two case series that documented the association between urinary tract damage and recreational ketamine use were published 12 years ago [1,2]. Since then ketamine has maintained a controversial profile as an essential medication of expanding utility but with...

Focal therapy for prostate cancer – ready for prime time?

The current therapeutic ratio for radical therapy in many men with localised prostate cancer is not ideal. For a significant side-effect profile, there seems to be a small survival benefit over a 10-15 year period. A strategy that might balance...

Use of Clavien-Dindo classification in urology part 2 – upper tract

A classification system of surgical complications was proposed by Clavien in 1992 [1] and further modified by Dindo in 2004 [2]. Clavien-Dindo classification has since then been validated through many retrospective case series as well as in comparative studies to...

Stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastatic disease secondary to urological cancer

The concept of oligometastatic disease is controversial. The traditional model of cancer, which most of us learnt at medical school, is of a disease which starts confined to an organ, for example the prostate, where it can be cured with...