Efficacy of contemporary medical management for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis.

In the Asymptomatic Carotid Artery Stenosis trial (1995), medical management was defined as aspirin in addition to adequate control of comorbidities. Since then, medical management of asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis (CAS) has progressed to include broader use of statins. Our purpose was to review the effect of contemporary medical management on stroke prevention.

Medical therapy versus surgery and minimally invasive surgical therapies for lower urinary tract symptoms and benign prostatic hyperplasia: what makes better economic sense?

From a clinical standpoint, the emergence of selective pharmacologic therapies and minimally invasive procedural treatments has changed clinical management paradigms for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Choosing from among the available treatment options can be complex for both patient and physician as factors including clinical outcomes, cost, and reimbursement are weighed and evaluated. Pharmacologic therapies produce modest improvements in objective outcomes measures and subject patients to long-term costs and risks including disease progression and the potential need for subsequent procedural treatment.

Role of laparoscopic hernia repair in men with a previous negative inguinal exploration for a cryptorchid testicle.

Objectives: To evaluate the role of laparoscopy in adults presenting with indirect inguinal hernias with a previous negative inguinal exploration for nonpalpable testes in childhood who were diagnosed with a vanishing testis.

Materials And Methods: We present a case report of an individual who underwent a negative inguinal exploration in childhood for a nonpalpable testis. During laparoscopic repair of the defect, an intra-abdominal testicle was discovered.

Ungated extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy in children: an initial series.

Objectives: Ungated extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is associated with cardiac arrhythmias in adults. However, the incidence of arrhythmias in children undergoing ungated ESWL has not been established. Therefore, we report on the safety and efficacy of ungated ESWL of renal calculi in children.