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What to expect when meeting a statistician

There are a growing number of statisticians working closely with medics from all specialties. They have different training but they are driven by the same goal: to perform high quality evidence-based clinical research [1,2]. In a perfect world we would...

Giggle incontinence – not a laughing matter!

For many decades, the condition of giggle incontinence (enuresis risoria, giggle micturition) has remained a rare and poorly understood condition. Patients (90% female) present in their teens, with the history revealing an issue for many years. It is debilitating and...

ICS updates in continence care: a personal perspective on the role of basic science in urology

At a urology research meeting in Sheffield a few years ago, a former post doctorate researcher in urology, Mathieu Boudes, said: “Stop calling it basic research, there is nothing basic about it. It is fundamental research to everything urologists do.”...

Obesity and Urologic cancers: A student’s perspective on risk, systems and surgical implications

During my clinical placements, I began to notice that some patients did not fit neatly into the scenarios we learned about in lectures. One patient in particular had a raised PSA and several comorbidities, including obesity. What stood out was...

Emphysematous pyelonephritis: a review

Introduction Emphysematous pyelonephritis (EPN) is an acute, severe, necrotising, bacterial infection of the renal parenchyma and surrounding tissues, with gas in the renal parenchyma, collecting system or perinephric tissue. Although it is rare, it is potentially life threatening and early...

Clear cell urothelial carcinoma: a highly aggressive morphological variant in the bladder and upper urinary tract

Clear cell urothelial carcinoma (CCUC) is a rare morphological variant of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). It can occur anywhere along the urothelial tract and is characterised histologically by high grade carcinoma with an abundance of clear, glycogen-rich cytoplasm [1]. Alternative...

Kidney stones in pregnancy

Urolithiasis related complications are estimated to affect between 1:200 and 1:2000 pregnancies [1,2]. With around 825,000 conceptions in England and Wales in 2021 [3], this represents an uncommon but not rare occurrence. What is normally a straightforward pathway for a...

Men with a susceptibility to prostate cancer: implications of family history in PCa risk-prediction

Incorporation of family history (FH) status into prostate cancer (PCa) risk stratification has the potential to underpin many aspects of PCa care. This group of men presents a unique challenge in early cancer detection, particularly given that most men without...

An overview of daytime wetting in children

It is estimated that daytime wetting affects one in seventy-five children over the age of five years [1]. Daytime wetting is commoner in younger children (1 in 7 aged 4.5 years, 1 in 20 aged 9.5 years) [1]. Many younger...

Surgical video – part 1: intraoperative video recording and storage

The use of digital technology has progressed in leaps and bounds and nowhere is this more apparent than in medicine and surgery. Footage of live surgery is now easily accessed on the internet or displayed at conferences. Thus, the 21st...

MRI screening for prostate cancer: a step towards a ‘prostagram’

The UK National Screening Committee has been calling for further research into alternative screening tests for prostate cancer. The committee decided against prostate cancer screening using prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing on the basis that “PSA is still a poor...

A guide to percutaneous nephrolithotomy

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is now the gold standard approach to treating large renal stones. Since its development in the 1970s, it has undergone a series of refinements that could only have been possible with the symbiosis of both radiological and...