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Molecular biology – bladder cancer

Background Bladder cancer is the most common cancer of the urinary tract and approximately 90% of bladder cancers diagnosed in North America and Europe are transitional cell carcinomas (TCC). For the purposes of diagnosis and treatment, bladder cancer is often...

Urodynamics in review: stress urinary incontinence in women produced by the Urodynamics Committee of the ICS

Urodynamic studies (UDS) are the best tools to objectively assess the lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) of various aetiologies [1]. According to the general understanding and consensus of the medical community UDS should be performed only when they will change...

Benign prostatic hyperplasia: what are the benefits and harms of various surgical management options?

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is characterised by stromal and epithelial prostatic cell hyperplasia. The enlarged prostate may be associated with voiding and storage lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). These have been predominantly attributed to bladder outlet obstruction (BOO), assumed to...

Lasers in benign prostatic hyperplasia

Clinical benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) impacts on the quality of life of many men. It is intimately related to ageing, but exact calculations of its prevalence remain difficult since an accurate clinical definition still eludes us. Histological BPH has been...

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...

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...

HIV / AIDS – implications for the urologist

“It’s no fun to have HIV even though it’s viewed as a chronic, controllable disease. It means being wedded to the health system.” - Philip Berger, Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Toronto, Canada; and leading...

Mesh in urological surgery in the UK – background, reviews and current status

All UK urologists, unless they have been on a 10-year silent retreat, are by now aware of the controversy surrounding surgical use of mesh in general and urological / urogynaecological use of mesh for the surgical treatment of stress urinary...

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...