The etiology of bladder cancer--are there any new clues or predictors of behavior?

It is well documented that the etiology of bladder cancer involves environmental factors. Most chemical carcinogens probably affect the urothelial cells via their presence in the urine. As an important cofactor, cell proliferative activity may be increased by urinary bladder infection, irritation by bladder stones or through the action of a variety of endogenously produced direct acting chemicals or agents.

[The scintigraphic effect of extracorporeal lithotripsy: prospective series of 25 cases].

25 patients with non complicated renal stones were treated by extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) using Sonolith 3000 an electrohydraulic generator type. They were evaluated before, 15 days and 3 months after ESWL by renal scintigraphy, using for 15 of them technetium -99m dimer captosuccinic acid and technetium -99m-diethylene-triamine acetate for the last 10. This follow up scintigraphic study shows no reduction of glomerular filtration rate after ESWL but some focal parenchymal lesions.

Influence of cholesterol derivatives on cytoskeletal organization of human carcinoma cells.

Recent developments of immunotherapeutic approaches have shown that artificial ordering of tumor cell membranes with cholesterol hemisuccinate (CHS) or 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-OH) may significantly enhance the immunogenicity of human renal adenocarcinoma cells. To gain further insight into the molecular mechanism of these sterols, we investigated cytoskeletal modification, which is related to the cell membrane. After treatment of human renal carcinoma cells with these cholesterol (at 10(-6) and 10(-7) M) for 5 days, we observed a disorganization of the submembrane end of the cytoplasmic actin stress fibers by cytofluorescence.

[Importance of MRI in hydronephrosis caused by acute or chronic ureteral obstruct. Prospective study].

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the normal kidney shows in T1 weighted sequence a spontaneous corticomedullary differentiation. In case of ureteral obstruction the corticomedullary differentiation tends to disappear, the medullary signal intensity in T1 weighted sequence is lower and the whole kidney signal intensity in T2 weighted sequence is greater in acute phase. 16 patients with lithiasis ureteral obstruction were evaluated in MRI study.

[Rhabdomyosarcoma of the prostate. Diagnostic course and current therapy. Report of a case of a 17-year-old boy].

The authors report a case of rhabdomyosarcoma in a 17 year old boy which recurred after combination chemotherapy and radical prostatectomy, followed by death of the patient due to haematological complications of second-line chemotherapy. The diagnosis of these rhabdomyosarcomas is facilitated by the various immunohistochemical stains now available. Chemotherapy is undeniably effective and, combined with surgery and radiotherapy, ensures a 5-year survival of 47% to 93% depending on the stage.

[Localized hyperthermia of the prostate via the rectum in chronic inoperable urinary retention].

Local transrectal hyperthermia of the prostate was used to treat 16 poor surgical risk patients who had an indwelling catheter because of chronic urinary retention caused by benign prostatic hypertrophy. We used the Brucker (Prost-care) model with a rectal applicator, a water cooling system and a microwave generator operating at 915 MHz. Intraprostatic temperatures of 42 degrees to 44 degrees C were measured by a radiometric system.

Multiple tumors in the same kidney: incidence and therapeutic implications.

Conservative surgery is proposed by many authors for small kidney tumors. We reviewed retrospectively the pathology reports of 727 operated patients. In 257, tumor diameter was less than or equal to 5 cm, in 158 it was less than or equal to 4 cm, and in 78 it was less than or equal to 3 cm.

[Epidemiology of bladder cancer].

The urinary bladder cancer mortality varies in different countries. The highest rates are noted in Denmark, UK, Belgium and Italy, the lowest rates in Japan, Singapore and Venezuela. The mortality rates are increasing for both males and females.

[Secondary bladder amyloidosis: a case of salvage cystectomy for massive hematuria].

Amyloidosis of the bladder associated with systemic amyloidosis secondary to rheumatoid arthritis is a rare disease. Due to the absence of routine screening, its incidence appears to be understimated and only 11 cases, all symptomatic, have been reported in the literature. The symptoms of this disease are dominated by macroscopic haematuria, always massive, which may be life-threatening.

[Current treatments of cancer of the prostate].

Cancer of the prostate mainly occurs in elderly men and is becoming more frequent as the general European population gets older. Only through continuing progress in the already well developed therapeutic methods will mortality due to this cancer be curtailed. Prognosis of cancer limited to the prostate gland has been improved by radical surgery which reduces morbidity and mortality and advanced radiotherapy techniques.

[Radical cystectomy for invasive tumors of the bladder in patients over 70 years of age].

The authors present a series of forty patients operated for invasive bladder tumors by radical cystectomy. All patients were older than 70 and had a complicated medical history. Mortality was 1 in 40 and the morbidity was low.

Increased immunogenicity of human renal carcinoma cells following treatment with cholesterol derivatives.

Tumor cells isolated from human renal cell carcinoma biopsies were treated with cholesteryl hemisuccinate or 25-hydroxycholesterol and the subsequent changes in their membrane fluidity and capacity to induce skin reactivity in the homologous patient were investigated. Both cholesterol derivatives were found equally efficient in decreasing membrane fluidity when measured by fluorescence polarization of diphenylhexatriene. Using trimethylammonium-diphenylhexatriene, a specific cell surface probe, 25-hydroxycholesterol, appeared much more efficient than cholesteryl hemisuccinate in inducing a membrane rigidification in the carcinoma cells.

[Stimulation of antigenicity of renal adenocarcinoma cells].

It was hypothesized that membrane rigidification of tumor cells could enhance the expression of tumor associated antigens (6) For this purpose, we treated in vitro hypernephroma cell with cholesterol hemisuccinate (CHS) or 25-hydroxysterol (250HC) and we evaluated their immunogenicity by skin-tests in 26 patients after radical nephrectomy. The skin-tests were positive in 50% cases with CHS treated cells, and in 35% with 250HC treated cells. The immune responses were characterized as delayed hypersensitivity.

[Our experience of spinal anesthesia for transurethral resection of the bladder and prostate. Retrospective study of 334 patients operated in 1986].

Retrospective study of one years is performed on 334 patients who undergo transurethral surgery. Spinal anesthesia is used in 263 cases, general anesthesia in 71. Spinal administration of local anesthetics (lidocaine hyperbaric 5% or bupivacaine 0.

The staging of M+ disease.

Patients with newly diagnosed prostatic cancer should be investigated with regard to the presence or absence of distant metastases by: (1) Clinical history especially of weight loss, recent pain, or analgesics intake. (2) Physical examination, looking especially for hepatic enlargement, peripheral lymph nodes, local bone tenderness. (3) Performance status.

Functions of the seminal vesicle.

The seminal vesicle is a gland which appeared late in the evolution of placental mammals. Vesiculectomy leads to very serious subfertility demonstrating the important role of this gland. Secretions of the seminal vesicle act during coitus and the maturation of the spermatozoon, on its mobility, its freezing capacity and the condensation of chromatin.

The vasodilator action of parathyroid hormone fragments on isolated perfused rat kidney.

The renal vasodilator responses to various fragments of PTH were quantified on a model of isolated perfused rat kidney (IPK), under non-filtering conditions. The 1-34 fragment of bovine PTH, its Nle analogue and rat PTH, injected in sequential cumulative doses, caused concentration-dependent vasodilatation in the vasculature of the IPK which was preconstricted with prostaglandin F2 alpha. The EC50 of PTH for renal vasodilatation ranged from 1 to 2 nM for all PTH fragments and maximum vasodilatation ranged from 33 to 41% of the maximum vasodilatation induced by papaverine.