What ' s known on the subject? and What does the study add?The open simple prostatectomy (OSP) is the ' gold standard ' for high-volume prostate adenomas. It shows very good functional results despite its invasiveness. Minimally invasive approaches, e.g. laparoscopy or holmium laser enucleation of the prostate, have been ' tested ' but none have proved a substitute for the OSP.The robot-assisted approach provides optimal functional results and is easy to perform for experienced robotic surgeons. Extending the indication of robotics to low-incidence pathologies can take advantage of the opportunity to ' see the procedure ' using available information technology, e.g. Youtube TM that presents as an unexpectedly useful tool. OBJECTIVE• To evaluate the outcome, feasibility and reproducibility of a robot-assisted (RA) approach for simple prostatectomy (SP) in cases of high-volume symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (HVS-BPH). PATIENTS AND METHODS• In all, 35 consecutive patients underwent RASP for HVS-BPH using a previously described technique.• The mean prostate volume on preoperative transrectal ultrasonography was 106.6 mL.• All but two patients (with bladder calculi) had an adenoma volume of > 65 mL and 27 (77.1%) > 80 mL. Nine patients (25.7%) had an indwelling catheter.• The mean International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) was 28. RESULTS• The median operative duration was 180 min and the mean hospital stay was 3.17 days.• The mean catheter duration was 7.4 days and discontinuous or continuous catheter irrigation was required in two and seven patients, respectively (25.1%).• In all, 10 patients (28.6%) had practically no blood loss. No patients had a transfusion.• The mean postoperative peak urinary fl ow was 18.9 mL/s ( P < 0.001), while the mean IPSS was 7 ( P < 0.001).• For costs, while superfi cially RASP appeared more expensive than open SP (OSP), when considering the higher costs of hospitalisation for OSP, RASP was cheaper. Also, bipolar-TURP costs in patients with large-volume prostates had rather similar costs to RASP. CONCLUSIONS• RASP is a feasible and reproducible procedure with outcome advantages when compared with the open or with other minimally invasive techniques (laser or laparoscopy). As a result, a RA approach is worth considering in cases of high-volume prostate adenomas.• Extending the indication of the RA approach, to the SP, requires fi rstly that the surgeon be profi cient in RA surgery and secondly that as the incidence rate of HVS-BPH is low, the surgeon has had the opportunity to ' see the procedure ' . calculi, diverticula, etc.) were present. In fact, for these patients, OSP seems to be more effective and safer than TURP [ 7 ] .Nevertheless, looking at historical and more recent series [ 1 -7 ] one notices that, while

No abstract

No abstract

The Virtue male sling is an effective treatment option for low to moderate post-prostatectomy incontinence.

Prostate cancer (PCA) is the most frequent cancer in men. Exposure to infectious agents has been reported to have a putative role in tumorigenesis. Among the infectious agents, convincing evidence has been accumulated about the human polyomavirus BK (BKV). Tissue fresh specimens, serum, and urine samples were collected from 124 consecutive patients, 56 with PCA and 68 with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Quantitative PCR assays were used to assess the presence of BKV and JC virus (JCV) genomes. BKV-positive tissue specimens were found in 32.1 and 22.1 % of PCA and BPH patients, respectively; in PCA group the number of positive BKV specimens/patients was significantly higher than in BPH group (3.06 vs. 1.73, p = 0.02). JCV genome was found in the biopsies collected from 28.1 and 24.2 % of PCA and BPH patients, respectively, with no significant difference in the rate of JCV specimens/patients between PCA and BPH groups. Our results support the putative causal association between BKV genome and PCA. Further studies are required to demonstrate the direct pathogenetic role of BKV in the PCA occurrence and progression in order to clear the tempting way of vaccine prophylaxis.