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Retroperitoneoscopy can be the technique of choice for accessing and carrying out all the surgery of the upper urinary tract respecting the principles of oncological surgery. After experience with 600 cases during the last 10 years the technique has become safe, simplified, reproducible and effective although not easy. Most complications are minor and easily managed.

Study Type – Diagnosis (exploratory cohort)
Level of Evidence 2b OBJECTIVE To determine the performance characteristics of the prostate cancer gene 3 (PCA3) score on the outcome of biopsy relative to different ranges of free‐to‐total prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) ratio (f/tPSA) in men with a previous negative biopsy and a PSA level of 2.5–10 ng/mL, as urine tests like PCA3 are currently under investigation in order to improve prostate cancer diagnosis and to decrease the rate of unnecessary rebiopsies. PATIENTS AND METHODS Data from the previous prospective European multicentre study were reviewed. Only patients with a PSA level of 2.5–10 ng/mL were included in the present study. In all, 301 patients had complete data. The diagnostic accuracy of the PCA3 score for predicting a positive biopsy outcome was studied using sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values. The PCA3 performance was evaluated relative to three different subgroups of f/tPSA, as follows: >20% (group 1), 10–20% (group 2) and <10% (group 3). RESULTS The prostate cancer detection rates were 18.8%, 23.9% and 34.8% in groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the PCA3 score, total PSA and f/tPSA was 0.688, 0.553 and 0.571, respectively. The percentage of men with positive biopsies was 30.6%, 37.0% and 44.4% in those with a PCA3 score of >30, vs 10.3%, 15.5% and 28.6% when the PCA3 score was <30, in groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The difference was significant only in groups 1 and 2. In men with a f/tPSA of ≤10% the difference in detection rates relative to the PCA3 score was not statistically significant regardless of which PCA3 threshold was used. A high PCA3 score was significantly associated with age, clinical T2 stage and positive biopsy (P < 0.001, 0.013 and <0.001, respectively). In bivariate analysis accounting for the PCA3 score and the f/tPSA, a PCA3 score of >30 was a significant independent predictor of positive biopsies (odds ratio 3.01; 95% confidence interval 1.74–5.23; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS PCA3 remained a better predictor of prostate cancer than f/tPSA. In men with a f/tPSA of >10%, the use of the PCA3 score was highly correlated with the risk of having cancer on re‐biopsy, and could prevent unnecessary prostate biopsies if the value is low.

Implantation of the ProACT/ACT device in patients with neurogenic stress urinary incontinence is minimally invasive and safe. It can significantly improve neurogenic stress urinary incontinence in the long term. Thus, it might be a reasonable option for patients who are not willing, not suitable or not yet ready for more invasive surgery, such as artificial urinary sphincter or fascial suspension sling placement.

BackgroundAngiogenesis is the target of several agents in the treatment of malignancies, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). There is a real need for surrogate biomarkers that can predict selection of patients who may benefit from antiangiogenic therapies, prediction of disease outcome and which may improve the knowledge regarding mechanism of action of these treatments. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have proven efficacy in metastatic RCC (mRCC). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the clinical response to these drugs remain unclear.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe present study aimed to identify molecular biomarkers associated with the response to sunitinib, a Tyrosine kinase inhibitor. To evaluate this relationship, primary tumors from 23 metastatic RCC patients treated by sunitinib were analyzed for a panel of 16 biomarkers involved in tumor pathways targeted by sunitinib, using real-time quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR. Nine of the 23 patients (39%) responded to sunitinib. Among transcripts analyzed, only the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) soluble isoforms (VEGF121 and VEGF165) were associated with the response to sunitinib (P = 0.04 for both). Furthermore, the ratio of VEGF soluble isoforms (VEGF121/VEGF165) was significantly associated with prognosis (P = 0.02).ConclusionsThis preliminary study provides a promising tool that might help in the management of metastatic RCC, and could be extended to other tumors treated by TKI.

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