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Introduction: Noncontrast CT is the standard of care to evaluate nephrolithiasis. We evaluated the performance of low-dose CT (LDCT) scan for evaluation of renal colic in the emergency room (ER).Materials and Methods: Patients visiting the ER with suspected nephrolithiasis received a standard-dose CT (SDCT) and an LDCT. Two urologists read the LDCTs and later they read SDCTs. Stone information was recorded on a diagram of the renal system. Findings on SDCTs and LDCTs were correlated through side-by-side comparison of the diagrams. Later, the two urologists adjudicated all nonconcordance between SDCTs and LDCTs in an unblinded manner.Results: Twenty-seven patients were included. SDCTs revealed 27 stones in 18 patients. Mean stone size was 3.81 mm. LDCTs revealed 27 stones in 18 patients with a mean stone size of 4.7 mm (p = 0.23). Overall sensitivity and specificity of LDCTs were 70% and 39%, respectively. There were eight false-positive and eight false-negative stones. All the false-positive stones on LDCTs were placed in the ureter, in which all of the corresponding SDCTs were visible calcifications outside the ureter. Of the eight false-negative stones on LDCTs, seven were visible calcifications on the SDCTs and the eighth stone was 1 mm and was not visible.Conclusion: LDCT may not perform well in the evaluation of suspected nephrolithiasis in the acute setting. LDCT scan accurately demonstrates calcifications; however, accurate placement of calcifications in or out of the urinary tract may be diminished due to impaired resolution of soft tissue structures.

Reducing the dose of ionizing radiation in a CT scanogram by 90 % has no significant effect on the accuracy of femoral version measurement. This simple change can significantly reduce patient radiation exposure while accurately measuring femoral version and length.

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Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate if metabolic syndrome (MS) and other comorbidities are associated with Peyronie's disease (PD). Methods: A total of 1833 patients retrospectively investigated and divided into two groups: Group A – PD patients ( n = 319) and Group B – non-PD patients ( n = 1303). The two groups were fully evaluated for diabetes mellitus (DM) with the glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), hypertension (HTN), dyslipidemia (DL), obesity by measuring body mass index, total testosterone (T), penile vascular circulation measuring Peak systolic velocity (PSV) as indicator of arterial supply, end-diastolic velocity (EDV) as indicator of venous output, and finally, smoking. Results: The presence of diabetes was significantly correlated with PD ( P = 0.005). Patients with diabetes had a 7% higher incidence of PD. However, patients with the highest HbA1c level of >8.5 had an increased odds ratio of 1.6 ( P = 0.025, confidence interval [CI] =1.061–2.459) of having PD. Increased age was significantly correlated with PD ( P = 0.025). For each year of life, the likelihood of having PD increases by an odds ratio of 1.019, or 2% per year ( P = 0.001, CI = 1.004–1.027). Unexpectedly, DL ( P = 0.006) and smoking ( P = 0.041) were associated with lower incidences of PD. Patients with DL or smoking had a 5%–7% lower incidence of PD with an odds ratio of 0.6 ( P = 0.006, CI = 0.410–0.864). HTN ( P = 0.621) and the total number of comorbidities ( P = 0.436) were not correlated with PD. Mean serum T values were statistically ( P = 0.43) but not clinically significant among patients with Peyronie's versus patients without Peyronie's (4.62 vs. 4.38 ng/ml). Neither low PSV (Fisher's exact test P = 0.912) nor abnormal EDV (Fisher's exact test P = 0.775) was correlated with the finding of PD. Conclusions: While MS was not associated with PD, diabetes, particularly poorly controlled diabetes, was associated with an increased rate. Further research into the interaction of PD and metabolic disease is warranted.

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