Throughout the 20 th century, urology grew and evolved into the surgical subspecialty it is today. The tubes and scopes of yore are memorialized at the William P Didusch Center for Urologic History at the American Urological Association (AUA). Rainer Engel, after a dedicated clinical career, spent 23 years as curator of the museum and gave the stories and tools and events that created the urology of today life.METHODS: A comprehensive literature review was conducted, including prominent publications and personal discussion with Tupper Stevens, a colleague of Rainer Engel's from his time as curator and AUA Historian.RESULTS: Rainer Maria Ernst Engel was the longtime curator for Didusch from 1993-2016. Born in Bruhl, Germany, Rainer Engel was the third of nine children, growing up around the effects of WWII. In his words: "the bombings, the troops marching through town, dead bodies in the street. It all left an inedible impression." After completing medical school at Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelm Universit€ at, he was convinced to move to the United States after taking a crosscountry convertible excursion where he met his wife, Dorothy. Then after completing Urologic residency at Johns Hopkins University in 1969, he continued to practice in the greater Baltimore area for the next 24 years, publishing on a wide range of topics, particularly on his experience while using a preputial flap for hypospadias repair. He was drawn to the museum by his colleague, mentor, and predecessor Dr. William Scott, and took over as curator of the museum in 1993. He spent the next 23 years working tirelessly to bring artifacts and relics from all over the world to the museum.CONCLUSIONS: Rainer Engel, the William P Didusch Art Award winner in 1996, was an enigmatic character who enjoyed dressing up as different historical figures during his talks. His costumes and podiums were a staple at AUA annual meetings and helped bring the museum to life.
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Pain catastrophizing has been found to be correlated with worse outcomes following treatment for patients with CPP. Despite this association, there is scant evidence regarding catastrophication as a dynamic trait. We studied whether an improvement in pain catastrophizing during specialized pelvic floor physical therapy (PT) would portend better outcomes.METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed among patients with CPP undergoing pelvic floor PT. Patients are given validated survey instruments three times over their treatment period, including the short-form Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Genitourinary Pain Index (GUPI), and Pelvic Floor Disability Index (PFDI-20). Patients were separated into catastrophication improvers (CI) and non-catastrophication improvers (NCI) based on their net change in PCS scores between weeks 0 and 6. Patients' changes on their GUPI and PFDI scores were compared utilizing unpaired two sample t-tests.RESULTS: CI patients (n[37, 74%) had a mean decrease in GUPI score of 5.16 compared to a mean decrease of only 0.46 points in the NCI group (n[13, 26%) after six weekly PT appointments (p [0.026). The CI group had improved scores for the urinary symptoms and quality of life subsections of the GUPI specifically (p<0.05). There was a nonsignificant difference in the mean PFDI score change between the two groups of 28.29 (p[0.143) with CI patients improving their PFDI score by 17.35 whereas the NCI group had a mean increase in PFDI score by 10.94.CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to evaluate whether changes in pain catastrophication can affect outcomes in patients with CPP undergoing pelvic floor physical therapy. Preliminary data suggests patients who catastrophize less throughout treatment have improved pain symptoms, specifically in regard to urinary complaints and quality of life measures.
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