Use of a Foley catheter for vesicourethral anastomosis is consistent and simple, and provided good surgical results in our experience.

Use of a Foley catheter for vesicourethral anastomosis is consistent and simple, and provided good surgical results in our experience.

Minor hematochezia after transrectal ultrasound and prostate needle biopsy is well reported. We present a case report of a 64-yr-old man on aspirin and with poorly controlled hypertension who developed severe hematochezia requiring blood transfusion. The bleeding was stopped with digital compression. The literature on hemorrhagic complications after prostate needle biopsy is reviewed.

Introduction and Objectives: The efficacy of adjuvant and salvage external beam radiation (AXRT þ SXRT) for prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy (RP) has been debated because of the inability to rule out systemic occult metastasis, uncertainty that radiation eradicates residual local disease and the potential of exacerbating impotency and incontinence. To characterize the effectiveness and treatment morbidity a retrospective review was performed. Methods: In all, 38 patients received AXRT and 91 received SXRT. The SXRT group was stratified by PSA level, age, race, pathologic stage, margin status, worst Gleason sum, radiation dose and pelvic field. Complications evaluated were impotence and incontinence. Median follow-up was 60.2 months. Results: The 5-y disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 61.3% for AXRT and 36.3% for SXRT. Multivariate analysis of the SXRT cohort showed Gleason score, pathologic stage and pre-XRT PSA to be predictors of disease recurrence. After XRT 26% had worsened continence. Conclusions: Patients who recur after RP whose pathologic stage is pT2 or pT3c, Gleason score of 8 or higher or pre-XRT PSA is 42.0 ng/dl may have microscopic metastatic disease and a decreased chance of cure with SXRT alone. Continence was further impaired after XRT.