The pubovaginal sling is effective in curing genuine stress incontinence and, when correctly placed at the right tension, the associated urge syndrome also can be managed, usually by achieving bladder neck closure at rest. However, despite careful maneuvers, obstruction occasionally persists.

The management of undescended testes remains variable, and the use of laparoscopy for localisation is controversial. This study reviews the need for laparoscopy and also assesses the current practice among a cohort of surgeons.A retrospective review of all patients undergoing orchidopexy was performed, together with a postal survey of all members of the Welsh Surgical Society.Of the 139 orchidopexies performed, the testis was deemed impalpable in 39 (28%) cases. All patients were treated with groin exploration, and only in two (5%) patients was the testis not located. From the survey, replies were received from 90 (81%) surgeons, of whom 65 (72%) were still performing orchidopexy. Forty eight (74%) surgeons performed orchidopexy between the age of 2 and 3, and only 32 (36%) performed preoperative investigations. The follow up period was variable with the majority of patients seen at six weeks.Laparoscopy for the impalpable testis is not initially warranted. An inguinal exploration is regarded as the definitive investigation. This has the advantage of providing the diagnosis and treatment in the majority of cases. (Postgrad Med J 2001;77:320-322) Keywords:cryptorchidism; impalpable testis; orchidopexy; laparoscopy Cryptorchidism means hidden or obscure testis, and is generally synonymous with an undescended testis. Of newborn boys, between 1% and 3% have an empty scrotum, 1 thus making cryptorchidism one of the most common surgical disorders in childhood. Although its aetiology is unclear, the definitive treatment for true undescended testes is surgical placement into the scrotum, thereby improving fertility and decreasing the malignant potential.The majority of cryptorchid testes are palpable but incompletely descended into the scrotum. As many as a third of these testes will likely be retractile when examined.2 However, the non-palpable gonad constitutes 20% of all cases.3 It may be located anywhere between the upper scrotum and abdomen, or may even be absent. Accurate preoperative localisation of the non-palpable testes has been diYcult, and its need disputed. We conducted a study to answer the question: was groin exploration a correct method for diagnosis and treatment of the impalpable testis, or is laparoscopy indicated? We set out to look at our own experience and also to evaluate the current practice within a cohort of surgeons. Subjects and methodsThe first part of this study was a retrospective review of a single consultant's (MEF) experience of all patients who underwent orchidopexy between June 1991 and August 1997. The surgeon was a general surgeon who had a special interest in paediatric surgery, and worked in a district general hospital. These patients were identified from clinical coding and theatre registers. Orchidopexy for reasons other than undescended testes were excluded. Case notes were reviewed for details of age, side of undescended testis, preoperative palpability, and the type of operation performed.The second part was a survey comprising a single sheet questionnaire (appendi...

Background This study aimed to determine the impact of pulmonary complications on death after surgery both before and during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Methods This was a patient-level, comparative analysis of two, international prospective cohort studies: one before the pandemic (January–October 2019) and the second during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (local emergence of COVID-19 up to 19 April 2020). Both included patients undergoing elective resection of an intra-abdominal cancer with curative intent across five surgical oncology disciplines. Patient selection and rates of 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications were compared. The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative mortality. Mediation analysis using a natural-effects model was used to estimate the proportion of deaths during the pandemic attributable to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results This study included 7402 patients from 50 countries; 3031 (40.9 per cent) underwent surgery before and 4371 (59.1 per cent) during the pandemic. Overall, 4.3 per cent (187 of 4371) developed postoperative SARS-CoV-2 in the pandemic cohort. The pulmonary complication rate was similar (7.1 per cent (216 of 3031) versus 6.3 per cent (274 of 4371); P = 0.158) but the mortality rate was significantly higher (0.7 per cent (20 of 3031) versus 2.0 per cent (87 of 4371); P < 0.001) among patients who had surgery during the pandemic. The adjusted odds of death were higher during than before the pandemic (odds ratio (OR) 2.72, 95 per cent c.i. 1.58 to 4.67; P < 0.001). In mediation analysis, 54.8 per cent of excess postoperative deaths during the pandemic were estimated to be attributable to SARS-CoV-2 (OR 1.73, 1.40 to 2.13; P < 0.001). Conclusion Although providers may have selected patients with a lower risk profile for surgery during the pandemic, this did not mitigate the likelihood of death through SARS-CoV-2 infection. Care providers must act urgently to protect surgical patients from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Objective: Tumors arising within augmentation cystoplasties are aggressive, have poor prognosis and the majority are not detected at follow-up cystoscopy. Genetic changes in tumors precede morphological abnormalities. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether genetic abnormalities detected by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) could be used to identify those patients with augmentation cystoplasties at increased risk of tumorigenesis. Methods: Bladder biopsy samples were obtained from 16 augmentation cystoplasty patients both distant from and near to the enterovesical anastomosis. CGH was used to detect genetic abnormalities in DNA extracted from the biopsies, archival specimens of two augmentation cystoplasties and two de novo bladder adenocarcinomas. Results: A greater number of amplifications on 2p, 3q, 8q, 9p, 17p, 18pq and 20pq, were observed in bladder biopsies obtained near to the enterovesical anastomosis compared to those taken distant to the suture line. CGH of archival augmentation cystoplasty tumor DNA indicated abnormalities at several loci with amplifications at 2q, 5q, 10p and 21pq, while deletions occurred at 5p and 16p. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the urothelium adjacent to the bladder and/or bowel anastomosis in augmentation cystoplasties is genetically unstable. Furthermore, longitudinal studies are required to establish whether or not patients exhibiting genetic instability following augmentation cystoplasty are at greater risk of developing tumors than those with genetically stable epithelia.

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