The multidisciplinary team meeting, or MDT, is the foundation of cancer management in the UK. The MDT consists of a group of experts in different fields of medicine and surgery coming together at regular intervals to discuss the diagnosis and...
In 2021, as a core trainee in urology, I found myself facing challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic, which led to limited theatre times for surgical exposure. Trying to grasp the basics of surgery with such restricted operative experience was...
This is a useful book to browse through, particularly for trainees. There are 195 pages of clinical information divided into 13 chapters. It’s a slim book which is easy to pick up and read. It uses case scenarios to discuss...
“Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat” – Steve Jobs [1] The world is changing rapidly. Healthcare has seen a fast reform, especially as a consequence of COVID-19. Urology is a rapidly evolving...
The use of pre-biopsy MRI has definitely enhanced our decision making in managing patients with suspected prostate cancer (PCa). There is still uncertainty around the outcomes for patients with PIRADS-3 lesions, with a small but definite risk of missing clinically...
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...
The role of androgens in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer is quite complex and is not entirely clear yet. Despite several reports suggesting testosterone use is safe in patients diagnosed with prostate cancer, many clinicians are still reluctant to use...
This study investigates how often the robotic instruments are exchanged during robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) and robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN). They presently come with a life span of 10 uses but whether all instruments are used fully on 10 different...
In November 2014, approaching my final year of training (ST7) in the West of Scotland (WoS) and just recently armed with my FRCS (Urol), I was at a crossroad in my clinical career. I was keen to pursue a consultant...
The quest for a minimally-invasive approach to major abdominal surgery finds its roots at the start of the previous century, when Georg Kelling first described the technique of ‘ceolioscopy’ to inspect intraabdominal organs in 1901 [1]. Since those early days,...
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...
Mirabegron is a beta-3 agonist used in the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB). Trials have shown reduced side-effects but equal efficacy when compared to anticholinergics. The authors wished to examine patients’ persistence with treatment, in a non-trial setting, over a...