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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 doctor as the patient: receiving bad news

This article, written by a GP working in the NHS, gives a unique insight into the experience of being a urology patient and some thoughtful advice on ‘breaking bad news’. Day 1 Alarm bells ring. It’s spotting an email from...

Sexual dysfunction following prostate cancer treatment

Prostate cancer is common with over 52,300 new cases diagnosed annually in the UK; this is expected to rise by 15% between 2023-2025 and 2038-2040 [1]. Radical prostatectomy continues to be the most common form of radical treatment for men...

Cutting-edge or over-hyped? Evaluating the role of robotic surgery in the management of renal cell carcinoma

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,...

What exactly is Hinman Syndrome?

Who was Hinman and what is Hinman Syndrome? Frank Hinman Junior (1915–2011) first described ‘Hinman syndrome’ in the 1970s – a condition also known as a ‘non-neurogenic neurogenic bladder’. He was a renowned American urologist, educator and skilful artist and...

Innovations in flexible ureteroscopy for renal calculi: a comprehensive review

This article has been verified for CPD. Click the button below to answer a few short questions and download a form to be included in your CPD folder. Flexible ureteroscopy (f-URS) has become a core modality in the treatment of...

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...

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...

All you need to know about percutaneous nephrolithotomy: supine versus prone and mini versus traditional

Introduction Since the first percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL), the technique has undergone many innovations, including modifications in positioning, miniaturisation of instruments and combination with retrograde intra-renal surgery (see Table 1 for an outline of the history of the technique). Controversy has...

Recent developments in bladder cancer

There have been some exciting developments in bladder cancer over the last few years. Immunotherapy has prolonged survival in a proportion of patients with metastatic disease, with sustained efficacy in some. Advances in genetic analysis and molecular subtyping make personalised...

Priapism

Priapism is defined as an abnormally persistent erection lasting greater than four hours, not associated with sexual desire [1]. Although relatively uncommon with an incidence of 1.5 per 100,000 [2], priapism has a risk of complications which can have a...

Update on immunotherapy for non-muscle invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder

Patients with high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) that have failed Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) treatment are a difficult group to treat, and many may not be suitable for the preferred treatment option of radical cystectomy. Bladder-preserving treatments for BCG-unresponsive high-risk...