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Immunotherapy in renal cancer

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the sixth most common solid organ cancer in the UK. In 2018, there were 403,262 people diagnosed worldwide with the disease (2.2% of all cancer cases), and it accounted for 175,098 deaths in total (1.8%...

Visual-estimation (cognitive), image-fusion (software) and in-bore targeted prostate biopsy: is there an optimal approach?

The diagnostic superiority of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) prior to targeted and systematic prostate biopsy over systematic transrectal ultrasound-guided (TRUS) biopsy alone in the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) has been proven by multiple level 1 studies...

Priapism in sickle cell disease

What is sickle cell disease? Sickle cell disease (SCD) is one of the most common single-gene disorders in the UK affecting approximately one in every 2000 live births. Approximately 20-25 million people worldwide have SCD. It predominately affects those of...

The scent of Ethiopia: a personal story – part 1

Background The year was 2004; I had just moved to the UK as a young house officer and finished my observership programme at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. I was inspired by greats like Patrick Duffy and Phillip Ransley,...

Training to be a urologist: how risky is it?

The NHS and urology face challenging times in trying to provide quality patient care efficiently and economically. Urology trainees are experiencing conflicting pressures with a new contract, a challenging on-call system and changing training requirements in an overstretched, centralised service...

Catheters and incontinence after radical prostatectomy: Preparing (but not scaring) men

Every year about 6000 men in the UK undergo radical prostatectomy (RP) for treatment of prostate cancer [1]. Despite surgical advances, RP continues to be associated with significant side-effects including urinary incontinence (UI) [2]. Immediately following removal of the urinary...

‘One team’: our experience teaching catheter care and difficult urethral catheterisation to NHS Nightingale Hospital London volunteer staff members

The NHS Nightingale Hospital London was launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-March 2020, the predicted scale of the pandemic was uncertain and there was concern that COVID-19 might overwhelm existing intensive care unit (ICU) capacity within weeks....

Delivering a laparoscopic urology workshop in West Africa: our initial experience in Senegal

Despite universal adoption and significant technological innovation since its inception around 30 years ago, access to laparoscopic surgery remains lacking in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Whilst some progress has been made in recent years to bridge the gap with the developed...

Sustainable healthcare: what steps can urologists take?

Human health is intrinsically linked to environmental health, making the ever-pressing climate crisis fundamentally a public health emergency. The healthcare sector is responsible for 8% of the UK’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide [1]. As the largest publicly funded healthcare...

Dr Glaucomflecken: Stayin’ Alive

Peter Cackett spoke to ophthalmologist and social media sensation Dr Glaucomflecken about his early days in comedy, the role satire can play in impacting medical governance, and where he might take his brand of medical comedy next. It was towards...