Advances in the treatment of melanoma are resulting in patients living for extended periods after being diagnosed with metastatic disease. Metastases to the ureter are rare, but they have been described in the literature on a number of occasions. In this case report, we describe a patient with established metastatic melanoma who, whilst taking and responding to immunomodulatory therapy, was found to have an obstructive mass in the middle of his left ureter. Rather than performing either a nephroureterectomy or partial resection of the ureter, we opted to perform an endoscopic resection of the melanoma. Follow-up imaging at 12 months shows no evidence of local disease recurrence. We submit that primary endoscopic management of metastatic melanoma in the ureter is a viable alternative to a radical approach.
The SAESR allowed us to improve upon our better than expected rate of stents lost to follow up or severely delayed. We demonstrated non-inferiority in the rate of lost or severely delayed stents, and a number of other advantages including savings in personnel costs. The semi-automatic register represents an effective way of reducing the risk associated with a common urological procedure. We believe that this methodology could be implemented elsewhere.
To establish the comprehension of urological abbreviations by non-urologists, and evaluate the awareness of urologists to this issue. Subjects and methods: This study involved complimentary surveys to non-urologists and urologists in the same area. The non-urologist survey was distributed to three groups: medical students, junior doctors, GPs and GP trainees. It assessed the comprehension of 24 commonly used urological abbreviations. The urologists' survey assessed the urologists' expectations of comprehension by each of the non-urologist groups. A total of 196 non-urologists (19 medical students, 35 junior doctors and 142 GPs and GP trainees), and 11 urologists and urological trainees participated. Results: On average the junior doctors and GPs understood approximately the same number of abbreviations (9.86 and 9.62 correct, respectively), with the medical students understanding fewer (7.89 correct). While this difference was statistically significant (F 2,193df =3.875, P=0.022), gender, number of years post-graduation and completion of a urology term were not shown to have an impact on the comprehension of urological abbreviations. Of the 24 abbreviations, nine were correctly understood by more than 50% of non-urologists. The urologists did not expect non-urologists to understand a majority of the abbreviations; however, most also reported not using abbreviations routinely in communications with non-urologists. Conclusions: These results suggest that caution must be used when using abbreviations in communication with nonurologists as there is a high chance of the recipient not understanding the abbreviations. This is particularly pertinent given the current rollout of electronic medical records across Australia.
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