Surgical Reintervention Rates after Invasive Treatment for Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms due to Benign Prostatic Syndrome: A Comparative Study of More than 43,000 Patients with Long-Term Followup.

Purpose: No large-scale comparison of the 4 most established surgical approaches for lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostate obstruction in terms of long-term efficacy is available. We compared photoselective vaporization, laser enucleation and open simple prostatectomy to transurethral resection with regard to 5-year surgical reintervention rates.

Materials And Methods: A total of 43,041 male patients with lower urinary tract symptoms who underwent transurethral resection (34,526), photoselective vaporization (3,050), laser enucleation (1,814) or open simple prostatectomy (3,651) between 2011 and 2013 were identified in pseudonymized claims and core data of the German local health care funds and followed for 5 years.

National trends and differences in morbidity among surgical approaches for radical prostatectomy in Germany.

Objective: In this study, we document trends in radical prostatectomy (RP) employment in Germany during the period 2005-2012 and compare the morbidity of open (ORP), laparoscopic and robotic-assisted RP based on nationwide administrative data of Allgemeine Ortskrankenkassen (AOK) German local healthcare funds.

Materials And Methods: Administrative claims data of all AOK patients subjected to RP during 2005-2012 (57,156 cases) were used to evaluate the employment of minimally invasive RP (MIRP) procedures, pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) and nerve-sparing approaches during this period. In addition, data from the most recent three-year period of our dataset (2010-2012) were used to compare the morbidity among the different surgical approaches.

Paravaginal defect: A new classification of fascial and muscle tears in the paravaginal region.

The lateral support of the vaginal wall depends on the integrity of the paravaginal section of the visceral pelvic fascia, levator ani, and their connection. Various defects of the muscle and fascia can result in identical clinical findings-ie, the descent of the lateral vaginal sulcus. In this study, we created a realistic scheme for classifying paravaginal defects, based on the complex relationship of the pelvic fascia with the levator ani.

Perioperative platelet inhibition in transurethral interventions: TURP/TURB.

Purpose: To determine whether transurethral surgery under platelet inhibition is a feasible procedure. Before transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) or bladder tumours (TURB), the administration of platelet-inhibiting medication is often interrupted due to possible bleeding complications. We studied the performance of TURP and TURB under the current recommendations of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) on perioperative platelet inhibition.

Laparoscopic adrenalectomy in urological centres - the experience of the German Laparoscopic Working Group.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) performed in several German centres with different laparoscopic experience, as LA has become the gold-standard approach for benign surgical adrenal disorders; however, for solitary metastasis or primary adrenal cancer its precise role is uncertain.

Patients And Methods: The data of 363 patients who underwent a LA were prospectively collected in 23 centres. All centres were stratified into three groups according to their experience: group A (<10 LAs/year), group B (10-20 LAs/year) and group C (>20 LAs/year).

Intraoperative photodynamic evaluation of surgical margins during endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy with the use of 5-aminolevulinic acid.

Purpose: Today there are no established techniques to image positive surgical margins (PSM) intraoperatively in endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy (EERPE). The intention of this study was to describe the specific technique of photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) in patients undergoing EERPE and report on the potential to detect PSM under PDD.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-four patients with clinically organ-confined prostate cancer received 5-aminolevulinic acid 20 mg/kg body weight orally 3 hours prior to nonnerve-sparing EERPE.

The MiniArc sling system in the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence.

Aims: To assess the technical feasibility of a new mini-invasive sling procedure (MiniArc) and present short-term results in the treatment of female urinary incontinence.

Materials And Methods: A total of 97 women with mixed or stress urinary incontinence (SUI) were treated by placement of the new single-incision sling. Pelvic organ prolapse was graded using the POP-Q system (pelvic organ prolapse quantification system).

Surgical outcomes of fluorescence-guided laparoscopic partial nephrectomy using 5-aminolevulinic acid-induced protoporphyrin IX.

Background: To evaluate the clinical performance of photodynamic diagnostic (PDD) after oral administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) for assessment of tumor type and surgical margins in laparoscopic nephron-sparing surgery.

Materials And Methods: This is a prospective, non-randomized single-center study. A total of 77 patients with a renal mass < 4 cm diameter underwent laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN).

Photodynamic diagnosis using 5-aminolevulinic acid for the detection of positive surgical margins during radical prostatectomy in patients with carcinoma of the prostate: a multicentre, prospective, phase 2 trial of a diagnostic procedure.

Background: Surgical margin status after radical prostatectomy (RP) is a significant risk factor for tumour recurrence. It is an intriguing concept to find a fluorescence marker for photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) to make tumour margins visible during surgery.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of identification of positive surgical margins (PSM) during open retropubic or endoscopic extraperitoneal RP by 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-induced protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) to enhance surgical radicality.

Asystolic cardiac arrest during balloon insufflation for endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy.

Background And Purpose: Hemodynamic changes during abdominal laparoscopic procedures have been described as multifactorial phenomena. We report the possible occurrence of bradycardia and asystolic cardiac arrest during insufflation of the balloon trocar as a rare and serious but reversible complication during endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy (EERP) for management of localized prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: Between 2003 and 2006, 430 patients underwent EERP for localized prostate cancer.

Photodynamic diagnosis of prostate cancer using 5-aminolevulinic acid--first clinical experiences.

Objectives: To study the feasibility of 5-aminolevulinic-acid (5-ALA)-induced photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) for the evaluation of the surgical margins (SMs) during radical prostatectomy (RP) in patients with prostate cancer (PCa).

Methods: A total of 18 patients with histologically confirmed PCa (Gleason score 4 to 8, prostate-specific antigen 1 to 20 ng/mL) underwent RP. Of the 18 patients, 16 received 5-ALA (20 mg/kg) orally 2 hours before RP, and 2 served as controls without any application of 5-ALA.

Maintaining perioperative normothermia during laparoscopic and open urologic surgery.

Purpose: The ability to maintain normothermia during surgical procedures is crucial for improvement of the quality of patient care and the outcome of the procedure. We tested the hypothesis of whether one warming protocol is able to maintain normothermic core temperatures equally well in major open and laparoscopic urologic procedures.

Patients And Methods: In this prospective study, 300 patients who were scheduled for open (n=53) or laparoscopic (n=247) urologic procedures were included and received intraoperative warming using a combination of an upper and lower body forced-air warmer and a single warming blanket.

Mitogenic and anti-apoptotic actions of adipocyte-derived hormone leptin in prostate cancer cells.

Objective: To investigate the proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects of leptin on human prostate cancer cells, and the role of related signalling pathways in mediating these actions, as obesity is a possible risk factor for prostate cancer and leptin, an adipocyte-derived hormone, has mitogenic action in various cell types.

Materials And Methods: Two human prostate cancer cell lines, DU145 and PC-3, were treated with leptin (5-100 ng/mL) for up to 48 h. Under serum-free conditions, cell proliferation was measured using a colorimetric tetrazolium assay and apoptosis by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay measuring cell death.

Laparoscopic cystectomy with extracorporeal-assisted urinary diversion: experience with 34 patients.

Objectives: Open radical cystectomy remains the gold standard for nonmetastatic muscle invasive bladder cancer. Laparoscopic cystectomy has been described as a feasible procedure and is still being evaluated. We describe our initial experience with this laparoscopic surgical approach in 34 patients.

Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy--the experience of the German Laparoscopic Working Group.

Purpose: To present the current status of laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with respect to transferability, learning curve, and outcome.

Material And Methods: The data of 5824 patients who underwent LRP in 18 centers by 50 urologists from March 1999 to August 2004 were analyzed retrospectively. Three centers performed more than 500, and six more than 250 cases.

Improved detection and treatment of bladder cancer using hexaminolevulinate imaging: a prospective, phase III multicenter study.

Purpose: We determined if improved tumor detection using hexaminolevulinate (HAL) fluorescence cystoscopy could lead to improved treatment in patients with bladder cancer.

Materials And Methods: A total of 146 patients with known or suspected bladder cancer were assessed in this open, comparative, within patient, controlled phase III study. Patients received intravesical HAL for 1 hour and were assessed with standard white light cystoscopy and blue light fluorescence cystoscopy.

Diagnosis of urothelial carcinoma of the bladder using fluorescence endoscopy.

Bladder cancer is a frequent disease and represents the second most common genitourinary neoplasm. Although many aspects of the management of superficial bladder cancer are now well established, significant challenges remain, which influences patient outcome. Early detection and treatment of recurrent disease is required to optimize bladder preservation, reduce patient morbidity, and increase quality of life and survival.