Prostate Dimensions and Their Impact on LUTS and Erectile Function: Is Length the Missing Link?

: The objective of this study is to explore potential correlations between prostate volume, LUTS, and IIEF, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between prostate dimensions-width, height, and length-and both LUTS and IIEF and to assess patients based on risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, smoking, alcohol consumption, and PSA levels. : A retrospective multicenter study was conducted between January 2007 and December 2023, focusing on male patients over the age of 40. The study evaluated hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, smoking, alcohol consumption, and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) through the completion of the IPSS and QoL questionnaires, sexual function using the IIEF-15, and PSA levels.

HoloLens platform for healthcare professionals simulation training, teaching, and its urological applications: an up-to-date review.

The advancements of technological devices and software are putting mixed reality in the frontline of teaching medical personnel. The Microsoft HoloLens 2 offers a unique 3D visualization of a hologram in a physical, real environment and allows the urologists to interact with it. This review provides a state-of-the-art analysis of the applications of the HoloLens in a medical and healthcare context of teaching through simulation designed for medical students, nurses, residents especially in urology.

Bladder Adenocarcinoma in a Constellation of Multiple Site Malignancies: An Unusual Case and Systematic Review.

Background And Objectives: Multiple primary malignant tumors represent a small percentage of the total number of oncological cases and can involve either metachronous or synchronous development and represent challenges in diagnosis, staging, and treatment planning. Our purpose is to present a rare case of bladder adenocarcinoma in a female patient with multiple primary malignant tumors and to provide systematic review of the available literature.

Materials And Methods: A 67-year-old female patient was admitted with altered general condition and anuria.

Epirubicin and Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Treatment: A Systematic Review.

Intravesical chemotherapy is the standard of care in intermediate-risk non-muscleinvasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Different agents are used across the world based on availability, cost, and practice patterns. Epirubicin (EPI), one of these agents, has been used by many centers over many decades.

Advanced Age Impacts Survival After Radical Nephroureterectomy for Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma.

Introduction: Upper tract urothelial carcinoma is rare but has a poor prognosis. Prognostic factors have been extensively studied in order to provide the best possible management for patients. We have aimed to investigate commonly available factors predictive of recurrence and survival in this patient population at high risk of death and recurrence, with an emphasis on the effects of age (using a cutoff of 70 years) on survival outcomes.

Artificial Intelligence in the Advanced Diagnosis of Bladder Cancer-Comprehensive Literature Review and Future Advancement.

Artificial intelligence is highly regarded as the most promising future technology that will have a great impact on healthcare across all specialties. Its subsets, machine learning, deep learning, and artificial neural networks, are able to automatically learn from massive amounts of data and can improve the prediction algorithms to enhance their performance. This area is still under development, but the latest evidence shows great potential in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of urological diseases, including bladder cancer, which are currently using old prediction tools and historical nomograms.

Artificial intelligence and radiomics in evaluation of kidney lesions: a comprehensive literature review.

Radiomics and artificial intelligence (AI) may increase the differentiation of benign from malignant kidney lesions, differentiation of angiomyolipoma (AML) from renal cell carcinoma (RCC), differentiation of oncocytoma from RCC, differentiation of different subtypes of RCC, to predict Fuhrman grade, to predict gene mutation through molecular biomarkers and to predict treatment response in metastatic RCC undergoing immunotherapy. Neural networks analyze imaging data. Statistical, geometrical, textural features derived are giving quantitative data of contour, internal heterogeneity and gray zone features of lesions.

Molecular Imaging Diagnosis of Renal Cancer Using Tc-Sestamibi SPECT/CT and Girentuximab PET-CT-Current Evidence and Future Development of Novel Techniques.

Novel molecular imaging opportunities to preoperatively diagnose renal cell carcinoma is under development and will add more value in limiting the postoperative renal function loss and morbidity. We aimed to comprehensively review the research on single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) and positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT) molecular imaging and to enhance the urologists' and radiologists' knowledge of the current research pattern. We identified an increase in prospective and also retrospective studies that researched to distinguish between benign and malignant lesions and between different clear cell renal cell carcinoma subtypes, with small numbers of patients studied, nonetheless with excellent results on specificity, sensitivity and accuracy, especially for Tc-sestamibi SPECT/CT that delivers quick results compared to a long acquisition time for girentuximab PET-CT, which instead gives better image quality.

Psychological Distress in Patients Treated for Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Literature Review.

(1) Background: The incidence of psychological distress and its impact on renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients is unclear. Our aim was to analyze the literature regarding the prevalence of psychological distress and its impact on patients with non-metastatic or metastatic RCC; (2) Methods: A systematic search of five databases was performed. Studies were considered eligible if they included patients with RCC, had a prospective or retrospective design, and assessed anxiety, depression, or psychological distress at any time during treatment or follow-up.

Robot-Assisted Partial Nephrectomy Mid-Term Oncologic Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

Robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) is used more and more in present days as a therapy option for surgical treatment of cT1 renal masses. Current guidelines equally recommend open (OPN), laparoscopic (LPN), or robotic partial nephrectomy (PN). The aim of this review was to analyze the most representative RAPN series in terms of reported oncological outcomes.

Radiomics in prostate cancer: an up-to-date review.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common worldwide diagnosed malignancy in male population. The diagnosis, the identification of aggressive disease, and the post-treatment follow-up needs a more comprehensive and holistic approach. Radiomics is the extraction and interpretation of images phenotypes in a quantitative manner.

Device-assisted intravesical chemotherapy treatment for nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer: 2022 update.

Purpose Of Review: To critically analyze the oncological outcomes and safety profile of device-assisted intravesical chemotherapy studies reported in 2021. Studies were considered eligible if they included patients with nonmuscle invasive blood cancer (NMIBC), had a prospective or retrospective design, included at least 10 patients, were published in 2021, and assessed the oncological impact of device-assisted intravesical chemotherapy and/or reported standardized adverse effects (AEs).

Recent Findings: Eight new studies reported oncological outcomes after hyperthermic intravesical chemotherapy (HIVEC).

Predictive clinico-pathological factors to identify BCG, unresponsive patients, after re-resection for T1 high grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Introduction: Seventy-five percent of bladder cancers are non-muscle invasive. The treatment strategy includes the transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURB) followed by intravesical immunotherapy with the bacillus of Calmette-Guerin (BCG) or chemotherapy, depending on the grade of bladder tumor. Despite a proper BCG intravesical instillations schedule, up to 40% of patients present a failure within 2 years.

Modified Glasgow Prognostic Score as a Predictor of Recurrence in Patients with High Grade Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Undergoing Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Immunotherapy.

Background: A systemic inflammatory marker, the modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS), could predict outcomes in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NIMBC). We aimed to investigate the predictive power of mGPS in oncological outcomes in HG/G3 T1 NMIBC patients undergoing Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patient's medical data from multicenter institutions.

Lower urinary tract symptoms are associated with clinically relevant depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.

Objectives: To investigate the correlation between lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), erectile dysfunction (ED), and testosterone deficiency (TD) with depressive, stress, and anxiety symptoms.

Material And Methods: From October 2019 to March 2020, 113 males were included. Inclusion criteria: age 40-75, no clinical suspicion of prostate cancer, no serious cardiovascular comorbidities.

Impact of Age on Outcomes of Patients With Pure Carcinoma In Situ of the Bladder: Multi-Institutional Cohort Analysis.

Introduction: The aim of this multicenter study was to investigate the role of age (cut-off 70 years) at diagnosis in predicting oncologic behavior of pure carcinoma in situ of the bladder.

Material And Methods: Inclusion criteria were: patients with pure CIS confirmed and that followed intravesical BCG treatment. Pure CIS was defined at any CIS not associated with another urothelial cancer.

Inflammatory Markers and Thromboembolic Risk in Patients with Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer.

Introduction: Patients with bladder cancer have a high risk of venous thrombosis that represents a key challenge for physicians in the decision-making for initiating anticoagulation therapy. Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) represents more than 70% of all diagnosed bladder malignancies; therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR), and risk of thrombosis by using the International Medical Prevention Registry on Venous Thromboembolism (IMPROVE) score as well as the risk of bleeding by using the IMPROVE Bleeding Risk Assessment Score in a study cohort.

Material And Methods: This was a retrospective observational study involving 130 patients who met the inclusion criteria: age > 18 years, stage pTa-pT1 NMIBC.

The Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Time to Primary, Secondary Resection and Adjuvant Intravesical Therapy in Patients with High-Risk Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Retrospective Multi-Institutional Cohort Analysis.

Background: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the diagnosis and treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using an Italian multi-institutional database of TURBT patients with high-risk urothelial NMIBC between January 2019 and February 2021, followed by Re-TURBT and/or adjuvant intravesical BCG.

Results: A total of 2591 patients from 27 institutions with primary TURBT were included.

Fascin-1 and its role as a serological marker in prostate cancer: a prospective case-control study.

Aim: This study aims to investigate any modification of serological FSCN1 in prostate cancer patients compared with patients without neoplasia.

Material & Methods: Clinical data and blood specimens from patients with and without prostate cancer were obtained. A quantitative sandwich ELISA method was used to determine serological values of FSCN1.

Prostate Cancer Radiogenomics-From Imaging to Molecular Characterization.

Radiomics and genomics represent two of the most promising fields of cancer research, designed to improve the risk stratification and disease management of patients with prostate cancer (PCa). Radiomics involves a conversion of imaging derivate quantitative features using manual or automated algorithms, enhancing existing data through mathematical analysis. This could increase the clinical value in PCa management.

A longitudinal study evaluating interim assessment of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for bladder cancer.

Objectives: To evaluate the usefulness of radiological re-staging after two and four cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), the impact of re-staging on further patient management, and the correlation between clinical and final pathological tumour stage at radical cystectomy (RC).

Patients And Methods: We conducted a longitudinal, single-centre, cohort study of prospectively collected consecutive patients who underwent NAC and RC for urothelial muscle-invasive bladder cancer between July 2001 and December 2017. Patients underwent repeated computed tomography scans for re-staging after two cycles of NAC and after completion of NAC before RC.

A risk-group classification model in patients with bladder cancer under neoadjuvant cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy.

The objective of the current research was to explore the potential prognostic value of readily available clinical and pathologic variables in bladder cancer. The novel association found between cholesterol levels and prognosis may provide the rationale for exploring novel treatments. Patients included had histologically confirmed urothelial bladder cancer and were treated with at least 3 cycles of cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy before radical cystectomy with lymphadenectomy.

Increased Body Mass Index Is a Risk Factor for Poor Clinical Outcomes after Radical Prostatectomy in Men with International Society of Urological Pathology Grade Group 1 Prostate Cancer Diagnosed with Systematic Biopsies.

Introduction: The association between obesity and clinically significant prostate cancer (PCa) is still a matter of debate. In this study, we evaluated the effect of body mass index (BMI) on the prediction of pathological unfavorable disease (UD), positive surgical margins (PSMs), and biochemical recurrence (BCR) in patients with clinically localized (≤cT2c) International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grade group 1 PCa at biopsy.

Methods: 427 patients with ISUP grade group 1 PCa who have undergone radical prostatectomy and BMI evaluation were included.

Three vs. Four Cycles of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Localized Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Undergoing Radical Cystectomy: A Retrospective Multi-Institutional Analysis.

Background: Three or four cycles of cisplatin-based chemotherapy is the standard neoadjuvant treatment prior to cystectomy in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Although NCCN guidelines recommend 4 cycles of cisplatin-gemcitabine, three cycles are also commonly administered in clinical practice. In this multicenter retrospective study, we assessed a large and homogenous cohort of patients with urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) treated with three or four cycles of neoadjuvant cisplatin-gemcitabine followed by radical cystectomy, in order to explore whether three vs.