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Purpose: The study compared characteristics and outcomes in patients with staghorn or nonstaghorn stones who were treated with percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) within the Clinical Research Office of the Endourological Society (CROES) PCNL Global Study. Patients and Methods: Data over a 1-year period from consecutively treated patients from 96 centers worldwide were collated. The following variables in patients with staghorn or nonstaghorn stones were compared: National prevalence, patient characteristics, access method, puncture frequency and outcomes, including bleeding rates, operative time, and duration of hospital stay. Results: Data from 5335 eligible patients were collated; 1466 (27.5%) with staghorn and 3869 (72.5%) with nonstaghorn stones. Staghorn stone presentation varied between centers from 67% in Thailand to 13% in Argentina. The frequencies of previous procedures were similar between groups, but shockwave lithotripsy was less frequent in patients with staghorn stones compared with nonstaghorn (16.8% vs 22.6%) and positive preoperative urine cultures were more frequent in patients with staghorn than nonstaghorn stones (23.4% vs 13.1%). Patients with staghorn stones underwent multiple punctures more frequently than those with nonstaghorn stones (16.9% vs 5.0%). Postoperative fever, bleeding, and the need for blood transfusion were more frequent, the median operative time and duration of hospital stay were longer, while the proportion of patients remaining stone free was lower (56.9% vs 82.5%) in patients with staghorn than nonstaghorn stones. Conclusions: The proportion of patients with staghorn stones varies widely between centers. Stone-free rates were lower, complications more frequent, and operative time and hospital stay were longer in patients with staghorn stones. Editorial CommentThe findings of this study are not unexpected; staghorn calculi present a unique challenge to the endourologist; with anticipated higher rates of complications and lower rates of success. However, the study demonstrates clearly that though the rates of complications were higher and hospital stay and OR times longer, they were not prohibitively so; PCNL remains a high standard of care for staghorn calculi. The information provided is useful for counseling patients on the contemporary risks of PCNL and the anticipated success and recuperation. Though the authors report that staghorn calculi are more common in women and have a higher rate of positive urine cultures, they did not report the stone analyses on these patients. It would be useful to evaluate whether the risk of infectious complications is higher in patients with struvite calculi. The relatively low utilization of multiple accesses for staghorn calculi alludes to a high utilization of flexible endoscopes and adjunctive procedures such as flexible ureteroscopy and SWL. The authors do not report the percentage of patients who indeed underwent these procedures. Advocates of the multiple access approach would likely conclude that the low stone free rate of 57%...

A PSA value higher than 1.9 ng/ml determines a significant increase in the diagnostic yield. Adjuvant hormonotherapy has no influence on the PET results. FDG has a better correlation with the Gleason score than (11)C-choline.

Purpose We compared clinical outcomes, and identified predictors of cancer specific and overall survival after radical cystectomy in patients with urothelial carcinoma with squamous differentiation and those with pure squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods We reviewed data on 2,031 patients treated with radical cystectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection at a single high volume referral center. Of these patients 78 had squamous cell carcinoma and 67 had squamous differentiation. Survival estimates by histological subtype were described using Kaplan-Meier methods. Within histological subtypes pathological stage, nodal invasion, soft tissue margins, age and gender were evaluated as predictors of cancer specific survival and overall survival using univariate Cox regression. Results Median followup was 44 months. Of 104 patient deaths 60 died of their disease. We did not find a statistically significant difference between survival curves of patients with squamous cell carcinoma and squamous differentiation (log rank overall survival p = 0.6, cancer specific survival p = 0.17). Positive soft tissue margins were associated with worse cancer specific survival (HR 6.92, 95% CI 2.98–16.10, p ≤ 0.0005) and overall survival (HR 3.68, 95% CI 1.84–7.35, p ≤ 0.0005) in patients with pure squamous cell carcinoma. Among patients with squamous differentiation, pelvic lymphadenopathy was associated with decreased overall survival (HR 2.52, 95% CI 1.33–4.77, p = 0.004) and cancer specific survival (HR 3.23, 95% CI 1.57–6.67, p = 0.002). Conclusions There appears to be no evidence of a difference in cancer specific survival or overall survival between patients with squamous cell carcinoma and those with squamous differentiation treated with radical cystectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection. Patients with squamous differentiation and tumor metastases to pelvic lymph nodes should be followed more closely, and adjuvant treatment should be considered to improve survival. Wide surgical resection is critical to achieve local tumor control and improve survival in patients with squamous cell carcinoma.

Although minimally invasive treatments for ureteral stones are efficacious, they are not free of complications and are associated with high cost. Medical expulsive therapy (MET) has recently emerged as an alternative strategy for the initial management of small distal ureteral stones. A MEDLINE search was undertaken to evaluate all currently available data on efficacy and safety of MET therapy in such patients. The specific mechanism of action on the ureteral smooth muscle and the emerging evidence of the efficacy (defined as either an increase in expulsion rate or a decrease in time to expulsion) and low-risk profile suggest that alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonists (alpha-blockers) and calcium channel antagonists should be the initial medical treatment in patients amenable to conservative therapy. NSAIDs and anticholinergics have not shown efficacy as single agents or in combination with alpha-blockers or nifedipine. Corticosteroids may provide a small additive effect when combined with either alpha-blockers or nifedipine.

There is a trend in increasing interest and accuracy on the subject of percutaneous biopsy of renal masses as well as a decreasing trend in the rate of nondiagnostic biopsies. In the small renal masses, most likely to be benign, a diagnostic percutaneous biopsy may have a definitive role. However, the higher rate of nondiagnostic results in this population calls for prospective studies with standard definitions and when possible homogenous index test to properly assess the diagnostic performance of the biopsy.

No abstract

Purpose: The study compared characteristics and outcomes in patients with staghorn or nonstaghorn stones who were treated with percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) within the Clinical Research Office of the Endourological Society (CROES) PCNL Global Study. Patients and Methods: Data over a 1-year period from consecutively treated patients from 96 centers worldwide were collated. The following variables in patients with staghorn or nonstaghorn stones were compared: National prevalence, patient characteristics, access method, puncture frequency and outcomes, including bleeding rates, operative time, and duration of hospital stay. Results: Data from 5335 eligible patients were collated; 1466 (27.5%) with staghorn and 3869 (72.5%) with nonstaghorn stones. Staghorn stone presentation varied between centers from 67% in Thailand to 13% in Argentina. The frequencies of previous procedures were similar between groups, but shockwave lithotripsy was less frequent in patients with staghorn stones compared with nonstaghorn (16.8% vs 22.6%) and positive preoperative urine cultures were more frequent in patients with staghorn than nonstaghorn stones (23.4% vs 13.1%). Patients with staghorn stones underwent multiple punctures more frequently than those with nonstaghorn stones (16.9% vs 5.0%). Postoperative fever, bleeding, and the need for blood transfusion were more frequent, the median operative time and duration of hospital stay were longer, while the proportion of patients remaining stone free was lower (56.9% vs 82.5%) in patients with staghorn than nonstaghorn stones. Conclusions: The proportion of patients with staghorn stones varies widely between centers. Stone-free rates were lower, complications more frequent, and operative time and hospital stay were longer in patients with staghorn stones. Editorial CommentThe findings of this study are not unexpected; staghorn calculi present a unique challenge to the endourologist; with anticipated higher rates of complications and lower rates of success. However, the study demonstrates clearly that though the rates of complications were higher and hospital stay and OR times longer, they were not prohibitively so; PCNL remains a high standard of care for staghorn calculi. The information provided is useful for counseling patients on the contemporary risks of PCNL and the anticipated success and recuperation. Though the authors report that staghorn calculi are more common in women and have a higher rate of positive urine cultures, they did not report the stone analyses on these patients. It would be useful to evaluate whether the risk of infectious complications is higher in patients with struvite calculi. The relatively low utilization of multiple accesses for staghorn calculi alludes to a high utilization of flexible endoscopes and adjunctive procedures such as flexible ureteroscopy and SWL. The authors do not report the percentage of patients who indeed underwent these procedures. Advocates of the multiple access approach would likely conclude that the low stone free rate of 57%...