The 'Prostate Embolisation AS first-line therapY compAred to meDication in treatment naïVe men with prostAte eNlargement, a randomised ControllEd trial' (P-EASY ADVANCE): a randomised controlled trial of prostate embolisation vs medication for BPH.

Objective: To compare prostate artery embolisation (PAE) to the combination of tamsulosin and dutasteride therapy as a potential first-line therapy for obstructive benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in treatment-naïve patients in the 'Prostate Embolisation AS first-line therapY compAred to meDication in treatment naïVe men with prostAte eNlargement, a randomised ControllEd trial' (P-EASY ADVANCE).

Patients And Methods: A total of 39 men with enlarged prostates, moderate-severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and obstructed/equivocal urodynamic studies (UDS), and who had no prior treatment for BPH, were randomised to receive either combined medical therapy with tamsulosin and dutasteride (medication) or PAE. Follow-up UDS, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), uroflowmetry and ultrasound were performed at short- to medium-term intervals following interventions and compared to baseline.

Segmentation of the quadratus lumborum muscle using statistical shape modeling.

Purpose: To compare automated segmentation of the quadratus lumborum (QL) based on statistical shape modeling (SSM) with conventional manual processing of magnetic resonance (MR) images for segmentation of this paraspinal muscle.

Materials And Methods: The automated SSM scheme for QL segmentation was developed using an MR database of 7 mm axial images of the lumbar region from 20 subjects (cricket fast bowlers and athletic controls). Specifically, a hierarchical 3D-SSM scheme for segmentation of the QL, and surrounding psoas major (PS) and erector spinae+multifidus (ES+MT) musculature, was implemented after image preprocessing (bias field correction, partial volume interpolation) followed by image registration procedures to develop average and probabilistic MR atlases for initializing and constraining the SSM segmentation of the QL.

Alterations in muscle attenuation following detraining and retraining in resistance-trained older adults.

Background: Aging skeletal muscle is characterized not only by a reduction in size (sarcopenia) and strength but also by an increase in fatty infiltration (myosteatosis). An effective countermeasure to sarcopenia is resistance exercise; however, its effect on fatty infiltration is less clear.

Objective: To examine in resistance-trained older persons whether muscle attenuation, a noninvasive measure of muscle density reflecting intramuscular lipid content, is altered with training status.

Quadratus lumborum asymmetry and L4 pars injury in fast bowlers: a prospective MR study.

Purpose: This prospective study examined the association between quadratus lumborum (QL) asymmetry and the development of symptomatic pars interarticularis lesions in the lumbar spine of adolescent cricket fast bowlers.

Methods: Annual magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure QL volume asymmetry and for identifying pars lesions of the lumbar vertebrae in fast bowlers (N=51) and a control group of swimmers (N=18). Manual segmentation of axial images spanning the lumbar spine was performed to calculate percent QL asymmetry relative to the bowling- or throwing- (swimmers) arm side.

Pars interarticularis stress lesions in the lumbar spine of cricket fast bowlers.

Purpose: This prospective magnetic resonance (MR) imaging study investigated the development of symptomatic pars lesions in the lumbar spine of adolescent cricket fast bowlers.

Methods: Annual MR examinations of the lumbar spine in male fast bowlers (N = 51) and swimmers (N = 20) without a prestudy history of symptomatic back injury were conducted to identify stress-induced pars injuries over 4 and 2 yr periods, respectively.

Results: Symptomatic L4 and L5 pars lesions developed in 11 of 51 and 1 of 51 of the bowlers, respectively.