Background: Halting the rising burden of prostate cancer across the globe has become a major public health challenge with the absence of intellectual consensus on the effective strategies for its prevention. However, knowledge of the disease and uptake of prostate cancer screening remain indispensable in mitigating the dire consequences of the prevalent late presentation of patients with the disease in sub-Saharan Africa.Aims and Objectives: This study was designed with an aim to assess prostate cancer knowledge and screening practices among men in Sokoto, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 participants (selected by systematic sampling technique) attending the medical and surgical outpatient clinics of UDUTH, Sokoto, Nigeria. Data were collected with a pretested, structured questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20 computer software.Results: The mean age of the respondents was 53.13 ± 7.92 years. Only 15 (5.0%) and 4 (1.3%) of the 300 respondents were aware of prostate cancer and prostate cancer screening respectively. Most of the respondents (95.0%) had poor knowledge of prostate cancer, and none of them have ever had a prostate cancer screening test done, with the most commonly cited reason being lack of awareness (98.6%).Conclusion: This study showed poor knowledge of prostate cancer and zero uptake of prostate cancer screening among the participants. These findings highlight the need for government and healthcare providers to sensitize the public on prostate cancer and its prevention, in addition to facilitating unrestricted access of those at risk to prostate cancer screening services.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.9(6) 2018 51-56

Background-In many patients presenting with an acute surgical abdomen, the outcome of management is determined by the promptness of the appropriate surgical intervention. The average interval the patient has to spent waiting for treatment at first presentation to hospital with an acute abdominal emergency is unknown in our center. This study was designed to evaluate the waiting time between hospital presentation and operation,to highlight causes of the delay and outcome of treatment among patients admitted with emergency abdominal events in a Nigerian tertiary health Centre. Only 13(9.6%) of the patients were operated within 6-hours of hospital admission, considered prompt treatment. Operations after six hours in 123 others was due to several reasons but the commonest reason in [65.4%] was financial constraint. The commonest complication responsible for significant morbidity was wound infection in 31 (22.8%) patients, the majority of whom had delayed surgical operation (n=23/31). Twenty-eight (20.6%) patients died in this study. All but one were from the group operated beyond 6-hours of hospital presentation. Conclusion: The adverse consequences of prolonged waiting time in our center among patients admitted with acute surgical abdomen are most commonly due to financial difficulties. A hospital-based credit scheme available to emergency aptients will rapidly improve the quality of care we give our patients.

Introduction: Fournier's gangrene (FG) is a necrotizing fasciitis of the external genitalia and perineum but may involve upper thigh and anterior abdominal wall. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study of 47 patients managed for FG at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital from January 2001 to June 2017. Data were entered into a semi-structured pro forma and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: The mean age of the patients was 42.7 ± 19.4 years, with age range of 7 weeks to 72 years. All the patients were male. The patients had underlying urologic conditions in 27.6%, 15.0% were postoperative, 4.2% had anorectal diseases, 10.6% had medical conditions, and 42.6% were idiopathic. After resuscitation, all the patients had serial debridement, Hypertonic saline bath, broad spectrum antibiotics and wound dressing. The wound healed by secondary intention in 34.0% and 32.3% of the patients had wound closure ± skin graft. The treatment was successful in 68.0% of the patients, 15.0% left against medical advice, and 17.0% died of severe sepsis. Conclusion: FG mainly affects men with existing urologic conditions in our environment. Aggressive debridement, hypertonic saline sitz bath, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and appropriate wound care are associated with good outcome.

The Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) Syndrome is a rare anomaly characterized by congenital aplasia of the uterus and vagina in women showing normal development of secondary sexual characters and normal 44 XX karyotype. We report our experience in the management of two patients with congenital absence of the vagina due to the MRKH syndrome. The first case was a 24-year-old student, who presented with primary amenorrhea, uterovaginal agenesis, right pelvi-ureteric junction obstruction, and left renal agenesis. The second patient was a 24-year-old housewife, who presented with primary amenorrhea and inability to achieve penetrative sexual intercourse. She had vaginal atresia and a grossly hypoplastic uterus. Both had successful sigmoid colovaginoplasty and are sexually active. Vaginal reconstruction using the sigmoid colon saw an immediate and satisfactory outcome in both patients

Introduction:Percutaneous cystostomy techniques are usually done using disposable sets in developed countries which are not affordable in poor-resource settings. However, the percutaneous technique can be done using reusable trocar or selected big size surgical blades. This is simple, safe, and cost effective in poor-resource setting. The procedure is best done under ultrasound guidance but can also be done blindly in select cases. We present our 7-year experience in ultrasound-guided percutaneous suprapubic cystostomy.Materials and Methods:This is a 7-year retrospective review of patients, who had ultrasound-guided percutaneous suprapubic cystostomy at Urology Unit of our institution from January 2010 to December 2016. Disposable cystostomy sets were used for the initial experience, but this was replaced with more cost-effective reusable metallic trocar or selected big size surgical blade methods in the later experience. Data were extracted from procedure register and patients' case notes and entered into pro forma and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 20.0 version (2011) for windows (IBM, SPSS Incorporation, Chicago, IL, USA) 20.0 version for Windows.Results:A total number of 135 patients had percutaneous cystostomy, which was ultrasound guided in 134 patients (99.3%). The mean age of the patients was 50.5 ± 23.3 years with a range of 2–90 years. The indications for the procedure include urine retention with failed urethral catheterization in 119 patients (88.1%), urethral injury in 14 patients (10.4%), and urethrocutaneous fistula in 2 patients (1.5%) with spinal cord injury. No major complication was recorded.Conclusion:Ultrasound-guided suprapubic cystostomy using reusable trocar or selected surgical blade is simple, safe, effective, and associated with minimal complications in poor-resource setting.