Impact of retroperitoneal tumors on the digestive tract (Review).

Primary retroperitoneal tumors are a rare group of neoplasms that often prove to be a real therapeutic challenge. The clinical picture is in most cases nonspecific, being the result of nearby tissue and organ compression, displacement and/or invasion, and it usually includes a variety of deceiving signs and symptoms that may lead to diagnostic errors. During the course of the disease, up to half of the patients diagnosed with retroperitoneal tumors can develop gastrointestinal symptoms, the incidence of such symptoms significantly increasing with tumor size.

Tumoral markers in bladder cancer (Review).

Bladder tumors are frequently diagnosed urologic malignant diseases with an extremely high recurrence rate compared to other neoplastic tumors. Urothelial bladder carcinomas are mostly identified in their incipient form, as non-muscle invasive, but despite that, a third of them develop into aggressive recurrent disease. The diagnosis of bladder carcinoma at this moment is established using cytology and cystoscopy and is a great challenge for clinicians due to the lack of sensitivity.

Oxidative Stress: A Possible Trigger for Pelvic Organ Prolapse.

Pelvic organ prolapse is a frequent health problem in women, encountered worldwide, its physiopathology being still incompletely understood. The integrity of the pelvic-supportive structures is a key element that prevents the prolapse of the pelvic organs. Numerous researchers have underlined the role of connective tissue molecular changes in the pathogenesis of pelvic organ prolapse and have raised the attention upon oxidative stress as an important element involved in its appearance.

Malignant Priapism - What Do We Know About It?

Malignancy as an etiological factor involved in priapism pathogenesis is rare. Malignant priapism (MP) can arise as a result of penile tumor invasion, either from primary penile tumors or from metastatic penile tumors, or due to hematological malignancies. Non-urological penile metastases are associated with significant worse prognosis compared to urological penile metastases, the appearance of priapism in such cases affecting even more the prognosis and the survival of these patients.

Benefits of erectile function recovery programs after radical prostatectomy (Review).

Radical prostatectomy is one of the most frequent therapeutic options used for the management of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. Normal erectile function after radical prostatectomy is a great problem for numerous patients and a real challenge for urologists worldwide. The advancements that have been made over the years in terms of minimally invasive surgery, as well as in terms of surgical techniques, have reduced the incidence of erectile dysfunction, but even so, its rate remains high and the post-operative recovery of erectile function is a long and costly process.

Penile carcinoma and HPV infection (Review).

Penile carcinoma is a relatively frequent health issue in the developing countries such as Africa, Asia and South America, usually affecting men aged between 50 and 70 years. It is a highly treatable disease in its early stages, but has serious physical and psychological consequences. Usually, penile carcinoma is located in the penile glans, in approximately half the cases, with the most frequent histological type being squamous cell carcinoma with its microscopic subtypes.

Mesh colposacropexy in the management of anterior vaginal compartment prolapse.

Pelvic organ prolapse is a frequent female pathology, often causing a negative impact on the patient's quality of life. The purpose of this paper is to present the results that we have achieved in 32 patients with anterior vaginal compartment prolapse, managed using the transvaginal mesh approach. Over a period of twelve months, we have performed 32 transvaginal reconstructive procedures using a four arms polypropylene mesh.

Finite element dynamic analysis of soft tissues using state-space model.

A finite element (FE) model is employed to investigate the dynamic response of soft tissues under external excitations, particularly corresponding to the case of harmonic motion imaging. A solid 3D mixed 'u-p' element S8P0 is implemented to capture the near-incompressibility inherent in soft tissues. Two important aspects in structural modelling of these tissues are studied; these are the influence of viscous damping on the dynamic response and, following FE-modelling, a developed state-space formulation that valuates the efficiency of several order reduction methods.