Background and Purpose: Slings have been successful in the treatment of male stress urinary incontinence (SUI). However, in many situations, the sling may have either an excess of or inadequate tension, producing voiding difficulties or urinary leakage, respectively. The effectiveness of a readjustable sling for the treatment of male SUI has been evaluated. Patients and Methods: Between October 2001 and November 2002, six consecutive male patients with SUI, aged 69 to 81 years, received a readjustable sling (Remeex®) at the Monforte Comarcal Hospital. Results: Five patients (83%) achieved continence, while the remaining patient showed important improvement. All patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the results. The average follow-up time was 18 months (range 12-50 months). There were no postoperative complications. Conclusions: This original treatment allows readjustment of the sling tension in the immediate or mid-term postoperative period. Initial clinical results are encouraging.
The urinary bladder is a fluid-filled organ. This makes, on the one hand, the internal surface of the bladder wall relatively easy to heat and ensures in most cases a relatively homogeneous temperature distribution; on the other hand the variable volume, organ motion, and moving fluid cause artefacts for most non-invasive thermometry methods, and require additional efforts in planning accurate thermal treatment of bladder cancer. We give an overview of the thermometry methods currently used and investigated for hyperthermia treatments of bladder cancer, and discuss their advantages and disadvantages within the context of the specific disease (muscle-invasive or non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer) and the heating technique used. The role of treatment simulation to determine the thermal dose delivered is also discussed. Generally speaking, invasive measurement methods are more accurate than non-invasive methods, but provide more limited spatial information; therefore, a combination of both is desirable, preferably supplemented by simulations. Current efforts at research and clinical centres continue to improve non-invasive thermometry methods and the reliability of treatment planning and control software. Due to the challenges in measuring temperature across the non-stationary bladder wall and surrounding tissues, more research is needed to increase our knowledge about the penetration depth and typical heating pattern of the various hyperthermia devices, in order to further improve treatments. The ability to better determine the delivered thermal dose will enable clinicians to investigate the optimal treatment parameters, and consequentially, to give better controlled, thus even more reliable and effective, thermal treatments.
(1) Background: Intravesical mitomycin-C (MMC) combined with hyperthermia is increasingly used in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), especially in the context of a relative BCG shortage. We aim to determine real-world data on the long-term treatment outcomes of adjunct hyperthermic intravesical chemotherapy (HIVEC) with MMC and a COMBAT® bladder recirculation system (BRS); (2) Methods: A prospective observational trial was performed on patients with NMIBC treated with HIVEC using BRS in nine academic institutions in Spain between 2012–2020 (HIVEC-E). Treatment effectiveness (recurrence, progression and overall mortality) was evaluated in patients treated with HIVEC MMC 40mg in the adjuvant setting, with baseline data and a clinical follow-up, that comprise the Full Analysis Set (FAS). Safety, according to the number and severity of adverse effects (AEs), was evaluated in the safety (SAF) population, composed by patients with at least one adjunct HIVEC MMC instillation; (3) Results: The FAS population (n = 502) received a median number of 8.78 ± 3.28 (range 1–20) HIVEC MMC instillations. The median follow-up duration was 24.5 ± 16.5 (range 1–81) months. Its distribution, based on EAU risk stratification, was 297 (59.2%) for intermediate and 205 (40.8%) for high-risk. The figures for five-year recurrence-free and progression-free survival were 50.37% (53.3% for intermediate and 47.14% for high-risk) and 89.83% (94.02% for intermediate and 84.23% for high-risk), respectively. A multivariate analysis identified recurrent tumors (HR 1.83), the duration of adjuvant HIVEC therapy <4 months (HR 1.72) and that high-risk group (HR 1.47) were at an increased risk of recurrence. Independent factors of progression were high-risk (HR 3.89), recurrent tumors (HR 3.32) and the induction of HIVEC therapy without maintenance (HR 2.37). The overall survival was determined by patient age at diagnosis (HR 3.36) and the treatment duration (HR 1.82). The SAF population (n = 592) revealed 406 (68.58%) patients without AEs and 186 (31.42%) with at least one AE: 170 (28.72%) of grade 1–2 and 16 (2.7%) of grade 3–4. The most frequent AEs were dysuria (10%), pain (7.1%), urgency (5.7%), skin rash (4.9%), spasms (3.7%) and hematuria (3.6%); (4) Conclusions: HIVEC using BRS is efficacious and well tolerated. A longer treatment duration, its use in naïve patients and the intermediate-risk disease are independent determinants of success. Furthermore, a monthly maintenance of adjunct MMC HIVEC diminishes the progression rate of NMIBC.
This new minimally invasive treatment allows readjustment of sling tension at the immediate or mid-term postoperative period. It is applicable to primary and recurrent SUI and has shown encouraging results.
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