A growing body of evidence suggests the role of male hypogonadism as a possible harbinger for poor clinical outcomes across hospitalized Covid-19 patients. Accordingly, we sought to investigate the impact of dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis on the severity of the clinical manifestations for hospitalized Covid-19 patients matched with healthy controls through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Databases were searched from inception to March 2022.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Urolithiasis is a chronic condition, and it has been associated with a significant negative impact on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Several tools to assess patients' HRQOL have been validated in Italian, however disease-specific HRQOL instruments are still lacking. We aimed to develop and validate the Italian version of the WISQOL (I-WISQOL) in patients with urolithiasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The aim of this article was to compare different surgical approaches to perform nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) in terms of preservation of renal function.
Material And Methods: We critically reviewed the literature from January 2000 to December 2020 including studies comparing different surgical techniques.
Results: A total of 51 studies met the inclusion criteria.
Cent European J Urol
November 2021
Introduction: The aim of this article was to analyze whether operative time and blood loss during radical prostatectomy (RP) can significantly influence surgical margins (SM) status and post-operative functional outcomes.
Material And Methods: We prospectively analyzed prostate cancer (PC) patients undergoing RP, using robot-assisted (RARP) or laparoscopic (LRP) procedures. Blood loss was defined using the variation in hemoglobin (Hb, g/dl) values from the day before surgery and no later than 4 hours after surgery.
The pandemic acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) named COVID-19 is causing a severe health emergency, and an individual's hormonal milieu may play an important role in both susceptibility to infection and severity of clinical course. We analyzed the role of testosterone in the immune response, and we hypothesized possible mechanisms to explain the high incidence of COVID-19 infection and a worse clinical course in elderly male patients. Testosterone may impair the immune response, and this effect could explain the greater susceptibility of men to infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly detection of prostate cancer (PC) is largely carried out using assessment of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level; yet it cannot reliably discriminate between benign pathologies and clinically significant forms of PC. To overcome the current limitations of PSA, new urinary and serum biomarkers have been developed in recent years. Although several biomarkers have been explored in various scenarios and patient settings, to date, specific guidelines with a high level of evidence on the use of these markers are lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA growing body of evidence is emerging suggesting testosterone can affect all cells involved in the immune response to both bacterial and viral infections, and the testosterone effect on the immune response could explain the greater susceptibility of men to infections including COVID-19. We aimed to explore the predictive role of male serum total testosterone (TT) levels on the time till viral negativity testing among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The univariate effect of risk factors for the duration of COVID-19 viral positivity was evaluated using the log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier estimates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost of the endourologic procedures along the urinary tract have been widely practiced as outpatient operations, including surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess safety and feasibility of outpatient surgery for patients suffering from symptomatic BPH candidate for endoscopic disobstruction. PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Embase were searched up until March 30, 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: androgen receptor variant 7 (AR-V7) has been suggested as potential marker for treatment selection in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The aim of the present review is to critically analyze: frequency of the AR-V7 expression in mCRPC cases-impact of AR-V7 expression on abiraterone, enzalutamide, and taxane therapy.
Methods: we searched in the Medline and Cochrane Library database from the literature of the past 10 years.
Purpose: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of ureteroscopy plus elective double-J stent as an outpatient procedure in an unselected population with regard to the treatment for ureteral calculi and to present a multivariate analysis of factors predict hospitalization.
Materials And Methods: Ureteroscopy was performed as an outpatient procedure on 308 consecutive patients with ureteral stones. Contraindication for day case surgery was the only exclusion criteria from the study.
Ureteral strictures are a recurrent chronic condition that leads to severe side effects and poor quality of life. Management of ureteral stricture is a great challenge for urologists and no specific guidelines exist. Retrograde Allium ureteral stent (AUS) is a newly developed ureteral stent to treat either bulbar urethral or ureteral stenosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Sex Med
August 2012
Introduction: To obtain the best results with radical prostatectomy, either from an oncological or a functional point of view, a correct selection of cases and planning of surgery are crucial. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) promises to make it a successful imaging tool for improving many aspects of prostate cancer management.
Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate whether a modern multiparametric MRI can help either to better select prostate cancer cases for a nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy or to improve the functional evaluation related to neurovascular bundles preservation.