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Marin Marais: Fiddling with bladder stones

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). I’ve known about Marin Marais’ musical composition describing his bladder stone operation for...

Intravesical glycosaminoglycan analogue instillations for recurrent cystitis

Introduction The symptoms of recurrent cystitis can be triggered by inflammatory or infective causes. Bladder pain syndrome (BPS) and bacterial recurrent lower urinary tract infection can both present with symptoms of recurrent cystitis and cause significant morbidity in affected individuals....

Intravesical GAG replacement therapies for bladder pain syndrome / interstitial cystitis – an update

The barrier function of the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) layer of the urothelium was identified by Parsons in 1975, and intravesical therapies to treat chronic inflammatory conditions of the bladder were developed soon after. However, the active role of the urothelium in...

Botulinum toxin – from the sausage poison to urology

Botulinum toxin is the first biological toxin to be licensed for use in treating human disease and since its first therapeutic use in the early 1980s for strabismus has become widely used in the fields of ophthalmology, cosmetic surgery, migraine...

The bulbocavernosus reflex

Despite its first discovery predating the early-1940s, clinical application of the bulbocavernosus reflex (BCR) has been limited to date. The BCR traditionally involves contraction of the bulbo- and ischiocavernosus pelvic floor muscles, often referred to as the ‘bulbocavernosus muscle’, in...

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...

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...

Bridging the gap – a nurse-led UTI information and support service

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most frequently diagnosed bacterial infections in both primary and secondary care. While acute, uncomplicated cases may be managed effectively, recurrent and chronic UTIs often present a more complex challenge. For many people, these...

Medical statistics for urologists: part 1

Part 2 of this article is available here, and Part 3 here Clinicians often consider statistics to be a dry and challenging subject. However, an understanding of the basics of statistic methods underpins the interpretation and use of current best...

The surgical trainer – are we still evolving?

“We need a system and we will surely have it – which will produce not only surgeons, but surgeons of the highest type” William Halsted MD William Halsted, a famous American surgeon, is widely credited with developing the first formal...

Bladder cancer – an overshadowed ‘volcano’

Bladder cancer has often been overshadowed by the limelight of prostate cancer. However, of all the urological cancers, bladder cancer is the only one which has shown a slight decline in age-standardised five-year survival rates over the last couple of...