Drinking water sources, quality, and associated health outcomes in Appalachian Virginia: A risk characterization study in two counties.

Objectives: In the US, violations of drinking water regulations are highest in lower-income rural areas overall, and particularly in Central Appalachia. However, data on drinking water use, quality, and associated health outcomes in rural Appalachia are limited. We sought to assess public and private drinking water sources and associated risk factors for waterborne pathogen exposures for individuals living in rural regions of Appalachian Virginia.

New technique of vaginal reconstruction following anterior exenteration.

Vaginal reconstruction is important in sexually active females undergoing anterior exenteration for malignant disease. We describe a technique for vaginal reconstruction used in two women who underwent radical cystectomy that required en bloc removal of the anterior vaginal wall. A polyglycolic acid mesh with a pedicle graft of greater omentum creates the anterior 270 degrees and the apex of the neovagina.

Prostate specific antigen following radiotherapy for local prostate cancer.

The clinical recurrence-free survival rates were compared to the combined clinical and biochemical recurrence-free survival rates in 285 patients with stages A2 (T1b), B (T2) and C (T3) prostate cancer treated with radiation therapy. For stages A2 (T1b) and B (T2) disease the 10-year clinical recurrence-free survival rate was 48% and the corresponding 10-year clinical and biochemical recurrence-free survival rate was 33%. For stage C (T3) disease these rates were 33% and 22%, respectively.

Perineal urinary bladder diverticulum resulting in partial urinary obstruction in a rhesus monkey.

A 16-year-old rhesus monkey with perineal swelling and urinary obstruction was found to have a congenital urinary bladder diverticulum. Because the diverticulum was located at the trigone, its distention partially obstructed the urethra, resulting in incomplete voiding. The diverticulum was resected and did not redevelop.

Incontinence after augmentation cystoplasty and internal diversion.

The collective published experience with continent urinary diversions, together with our own, indicates that there are certain basic principles with regard to continence, which is dependent on: (1) the pressure generated by the reservoir; (2) the outflow resistance of the outlet; and (3) detubularization, which is crucial to diminish the uninhibited involuntary bowel contractions. Detubularized ileal pouches provide the lowest pressures (less than 20 cm H2O). Although the majority of patients (approximately 85%) who have a low-pressure ileal neobladder are completely continent, a few experience persistent nocturnal incontinence as a result of low resting urethral pressure.

Continent reservoirs.

Continent urinary diversion is a major advance in the treatment of selected patients following cystectomy. Twenty-eight patients have undergone some form of continent urinary diversion at Yale New Haven Hospital during the past three years; thirteen have a continent reservoir with a continent stoma on the abdominal wall, and empty the urine by self-intermittent catheterization, and 15 have a reservoir anastomosed to the urethra, the majority of whom void spontaneously. All are continent by day and over 50% are continent at night.

Urodynamic studies in patients undergoing bladder replacement surgery.

A high incidence of nocturnal incontinence has been a problem in patients undergoing continent urinary diversion when intact bowel segments are used. Detubularization has been advocated to solve this problem. Fifteen patients underwent continent urinary diversions and 4 underwent bladder augmentation with a variety of intestinal segments.

Electrohydraulic lithotripsy in the ureter.

Intravesical lithotripsy using electrohydraulic probe appears to be a rapid and safe technique to treat ureteral stones that are too large for intact extraction and inaccessible to ESWL. Strict adherence to the guidelines that have been discussed must be maintained to assure its safety.

Ureteropelvic junction obstruction after percutaneous nephrolithotripsy.

Percutaneous nephrolithotripsy is reported to have few complications. However, we have treated 6 cases of complete ureteropelvic junction obstruction that occurred at a number of centers after percutaneous nephrolithotripsy. In 2 patients stones were impacted at the ureteropelvic junction, 3 had pre-existing stenosis and 1 had had no previous structural abnormality.

Complications of ureteral endoscopy.

Use of the rigid ureterorenoscope has become widely accepted for the diagnosis of ureteral lesions, and for the removal and disintegration of ureteral calculi. Few complications have been reported. During the last 3 years 128 ureteroscopic procedures were performed for a variety of indications (98 for stone disease).

A comparison of endoscopic suspension of the vesical neck versus anterior urethropexy for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence.

Endoscopic suspension of the vesical neck has been reported to be as effective as anterior urethropexy in the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence. We compared our first 29 patients treated with endoscopic suspension of the vesical neck between 1982 and 1985 to our last 21 patients treated with anterior urethropexy between 1979 and 1985. Both groups were comparable in regard to age, parity, duration of symptoms and previous surgery for stress urinary incontinence.

Acute adrenal insufficiency as a complication of urological surgery.

Acute adrenal insufficiency postoperatively is an uncommon problem and, if unrecognized, it may cause serious morbidity and can be fatal. It can occur as the result of acute bilateral adrenal hemorrhage associated with anticoagulation, inadvertent injury to or removal of a solitary adrenal gland, or postoperative stress in an individual with incipient adrenal insufficiency. Its manifestations, such as fever, tachycardia, hypotension, lethargy, abdominal pain and gastrointestinal dysfunction, mimic the other more common postoperative complications and compound the difficulty in establishing the correct diagnosis.

Early experience with direct vision electrohydraulic lithotripsy of ureteral calculi.

Rigid ureteroscopy is now an established technique for the management of ureteral stones. Manipulation of calculi can be done under direct vision using flexible forceps or stone baskets with increased safety and efficacy. We also have used a 5F electrohydraulic lithotripsy electrode to disintegrate stones that were too large to be removed by manipulation.

Renal adenocarcinoma in young adults.

Survival following the diagnosis of renal adenocarcinoma in a group of young adults, twenty to forty years of age, was distinctly better than that found in adults over age forty. This disparity could not be accounted for by a larger proportion of younger patients with early stage disease, nor by a greater percentage of non-cancer deaths in the older group. Perhaps a more favorable host-tumor immunologic balance is present in younger individuals.

Endodermal sinus tumor of the infant vagina.

A case of endodermal sinus tumor of the infant vagina is reported with long-term survival after successful therapy by surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. The previous 26 reported cases are reviewed and the problems of therapy and long-term management are discussed. Therapy of these tumors should be monitored by alpha-fetoprotein radioimmunoassay.

Histocompatibility testing in patients with carcinoma of the bladder.

A number of disease states have been found to have a positive association with certain HLA antigens. Weak associations have been described for a number of cancers. Seventy patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder underwent serotyping for HLA, A, B, C, and DR antigens.