Publications by authors named "Kara Watts"

Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate the association between the use of beta-adrenergic antagonist atenolol and risk of pathologic upgrade in patients on active surveillance, considering growing literature implicating adrenergic innervation with disease progression mediated through beta-adrenergic signalling.

Patients And Methods: Men with low-risk or favourable intermediate-risk prostate cancer who were placed on an active surveillance protocol between 2006 and 2020 across three diverse urban hospitals were included. Exposure was duration of atenolol use, and outcome was pathologic grade group upgrading (to GG ≥ 3) on final prostate biopsy.

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Objective: To assess internet usage among new patients seen by urologists and impact on post-consultation understanding for 4 common conditions: kidney stones, elevated prostate-specific antigen, male voiding, and female voiding.

Methods: We performed a prospective study of new urology patients at our diverse urban, academic urology practice for the above conditions over a 1-year period. A voluntary questionnaire assessed patients' internet use related to referred conditions prior to encounters.

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Objective: To examine elevated PSA follow-up within our system and identify areas for improvement in the timely diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Methods: We queried the Mass General Brigham's Enterprise Data Warehouse from 2018-2021, identifying patients with elevated PSA and documented time to follow-up. Timely follow-up was defined as having a urologist appointment, prostate biopsy, or prostate magnetic resonance imaging within 6 months from diagnosis.

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Article Synopsis
  • Duplication of the vas deferens is a rare condition often found during surgeries like inguinal hernia repair and vasectomy.
  • Proper identification of this condition during surgery is essential to prevent damage and complications.
  • The text reports a specific case involving a patient with both duplicated vas deferens and an incarcerated urinary bladder during a laparoscopic surgery.
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  • The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Stockholm3 test for prostate cancer detection in a diverse group of men, particularly those underrepresented in clinical trials.
  • Conducted over several years across 17 sites, the study compared Stockholm3's performance against the traditional prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, focusing on its ability to detect clinically significant cancer and reduce unnecessary biopsies.
  • Findings revealed that Stockholm3 had similar sensitivity to PSA while offering significantly improved specificity, potentially lowering the number of benign biopsy results by up to 52% across various racial and ethnic groups.
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Background: The role of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in prostate cancer (PCa) screening has evolved over recent decades with multiple randomized controlled trials (RCTs) spurring guideline changes. At present, controversy exists due to the indolent nature of many prostate cancers and associated risks of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. This review examines major RCTs evaluating PSA screening to inform clinical practices.

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Introduction: Social determinants of health (SDH) are nonbiologic influencers of disease and health care disparities. This study focused on understanding the association between SDH and urology clinic "no-show" visits within a diverse urban population.

Methods: We retrospectively identified patients scheduled for urology clinic visits from October 2015 to June 2022 who completed a 10-question social needs screener.

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  • This study compares the effectiveness of multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) and biparametric MRI (bpMRI) in detecting prostate cancer (PCa) in a diverse urban population.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 566 men who underwent prostate biopsies and found that bpMRI had a higher likelihood of detecting both overall and clinically significant prostate cancer compared to mpMRI.
  • The results suggest that bpMRI has comparable diagnostic performance to mpMRI and can be used effectively in evaluating suspected cases of clinically significant prostate cancer, particularly in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic men.
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Purpose: Transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy remains the most used method for the detection of prostate cancer. We recently reported that detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (cs-CaP) using image-guided fusion biopsies (IGFB) varied by race/ethnicity, which calls for further comparison between cognitive fusion biopsy (CFB) and IGFB among non-Hispanic black and Hispanic populations. Therefore, the aim of our study is to compare the rates of detection of cs-CaP and overall CaP by CFB and IGFB in a multiethnic community.

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Against the background of the climate crisis, there is an urgent need to include environmental sustainability recommendations in clinical practice guidelines. We highlight five domains for which suitable recommendations could help in mitigating the environmental impact of urology practice. PATIENT SUMMARY: Climate change is an urgent issue that requires global action.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzed surgeon efficiency and workload using metrics from Epic Signal, focusing on how these factors relate to physician characteristics like experience, gender, and specialty.
  • Results indicated that female surgeons experienced a greater documentation burden and lower efficiency compared to their male counterparts, while less experienced surgeons struggled with volume and efficiency metrics.
  • Ultimately, the findings suggest that both gender and years of experience significantly affect the efficiency and workload of surgeons in relation to electronic health record (EHR) usage.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated how a shared institutional research database affects medical students' research involvement, confidence, and satisfaction levels.
  • An inventory database was made using Google Sheets to list mentors and research projects, with students surveyed before and after access to this resource.
  • Results showed significant increases in students' presentations and publications, as well as improved confidence in their research capabilities and mentor relationships, with over 65% of participants supportive of expanding the database to other specialties.
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Introduction: We report the case of a transplanted ureter obstructed by an inguinal herniation treated by a robotic-assisted approach.

Case Report: This is a case of a 63-year-old male who had a kidney transplant with a graft on the left pelvis in September 2014, and presented to the clinic for evaluation of bilateral inguinal hernia. On physical examination he had bilateral palpable inguinal hernias, with the right one larger and only partially reducible.

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There is a need to better understand the role of postoperative care via telemedicine (TM). We evaluated patient satisfaction and outcomes of postoperative face-to-face (F2F) versus TM visits for adult ambulatory urological surgeries in an urban academic center. Methods:This was a prospective, randomized controlled trial.

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Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate predictors of timely urological evaluation among men referred for initial elevated PSA in a diverse, high-risk, urban community.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all men aged 50+ referred to urology within our healthcare network between January 2018 and December 2021 for initial elevated PSA. Time to initial urological evaluation was categorized as timely (within 4 months of referral), late (after 4 months), or absent (no urology evaluation).

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Objective: To perform a systematic review of the literature on plant-based and plant-forward diets and the prevention/treatment of the following common men's health conditions: prostate cancer (PCa), erectile dysfunction (ED), and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses system criteria were utilized to search PubMed and Medline databases for the following search terms: "Diet (Mesh)" OR "Diet Therapy (Mesh)" AND "Prostatic Hyperplasia (Mesh)" OR "Prostatic Neoplasm (Mesh)" OR "Erectile Dysfunction (Mesh)." Articles in English published from 1989 to 2022 using human participants were analyzed, data summarized, and assessed for bias.

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Purpose: The aim of this review is to highlight the unique factors that predispose geriatric patients to nephrolithiasis and to compare the utility and efficacy of surgical techniques in this specific patient population.

Methods: PubMed and EMBASE databases were reviewed, and studies were organized according to surgical treatments.

Results: Few prospective studies exist comparing kidney stone removal in the elderly to younger cohorts.

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Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate content quality and racial/ethnic representation, particularly of high-risk cohorts, of prostate cancer screening videos on YouTube (YT) and TikTok (TK).

Materials And Methods: The top 50 videos populated for the search term 'prostate cancer screening' on YT and TK that met inclusion criteria were retrieved in a cache-cleared browser. Three reviewers analysed all videos using validated criteria for the quality of consumer health information (DISCERN and Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool [PEMAT]).

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Introduction: Active surveillance (AS) is the standard for very low- and low-risk prostate cancer. Although risk factors for pathologic reclassification while on AS have been identified, results are mixed for non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and Hispanic ethnicity. We aim to further explore how race and ethnicity may be affecting AS participation and outcomes in a primarily urban, diverse, and vulnerable population.

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Introduction: The use of urine cytology in the surveillance of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is widely variable in clinical practice. We studied the impact of surveillance urine cytology on clinical decision making during NMIBC surveillance.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted on patients surveilled for clinical NMIBC from 2013 to 2020 with at least one follow-up cytology result after diagnosis.

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Objective: To design and implement a simple electronic medical record-based ureteral stent tracker. To assess its impact on stent dwell time and stent-related complications.

Methods: Patients with stents placed 12 months before and 6 months after stent tracker implementation were identified at 3 urban hospitals.

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Introduction: Opioids are often used to manage postoperative pain. Non-narcotic alternatives have increasingly been used to reduce opioid usage. We conducted an open-label randomized non-inferiority clinical trial to compare non-opioid to opioid therapy for pain management after nephrolithiasis surgery.

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