Is It the Load That Breaks You or the Way You Carry It: How Demanding Is Endourology?

Surgical outcomes are dependent on multiple factors. Besides patient-related or procedure-related factors, several surgeon-related factors contribute to surgical outcomes. The Surgery Task Load Index (SURG-TLX) questionnaire helps to assess the impact of several stressors on the perceived demands of surgeons during surgery.

An In-vivo Prospective Study of the Diagnostic Yield and Accuracy of Optical Biopsy Compared with Conventional Renal Mass Biopsy for the Diagnosis of Renal Cell Carcinoma: The Interim Analysis.

Background: Lack of accuracy in preoperative imaging leads to overtreatment of benign renal masses (RMs) or indolent renal cell carcinomas (RCCs). Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is real time and high resolution, enabling quantitative analysis through attenuation coefficient (μ, mm).

Objective: To determine the accuracy and diagnostic yield of OCT and renal mass biopsy (RMB) for the differentiation of benign RMs versus RCC and oncocytoma versus RCC.

Percutaneous Needle Based Optical Coherence Tomography for the Differentiation of Renal Masses: a Pilot Cohort.

Purpose: We determine the ability of percutaneous needle based optical coherence tomography to differentiate renal masses by using the attenuation coefficient (μOCT, mm(-1)) as a quantitative measure.

Materials And Methods: Percutaneous needle based optical coherence tomography of the kidney was performed in patients presenting with a solid renal mass. A pathology specimen was acquired in the form of biopsies and/or a resection specimen.

Thermal Energy during Irreversible Electroporation and the Influence of Different Ablation Parameters.

Purpose: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) uses high-voltage electric fields to achieve cell death. Although the mechanism of IRE is mainly designated as nonthermal, development of secondary Joule heating is inevitable. The study purpose was to gain understanding of temperature development and distribution during IRE.

The efficacy and safety of irreversible electroporation for the ablation of renal masses: a prospective, human, in-vivo study protocol.

Background: Electroporation is a novel treatment technique utilizing electric pulses, traveling between two or more electrodes, to ablate targeted tissue. The first in human studies have proven the safety of IRE for the ablation of renal masses. However the efficacy of IRE through histopathological examination of an ablated renal tumour has not yet been studied.

Irreversible electroporation of the porcine kidney: Temperature development and distribution.

Objective: Although tissue ablation by irreversible electroporation (IRE) has been characterized as nonthermal, the application of frequent repetitive high-intensity electric pulses has the potential of substantially heating the targeted tissue and causing thermal damage. This study evaluates the risk of possible thermal damage by measuring temperature development and distribution during IRE of porcine kidney tissue.

Methods: The animal procedures were conducted following an approved Institutional Animal Ethics Committee protocol.

Irreversible electroporation: just another form of thermal therapy?

Background: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is (virtually) always called non-thermal despite many reports showing that significant Joule heating occurs. Our first aim is to validate with mathematical simulations that IRE as currently practiced has a non-negligible thermal response. Our second aim is to present a method that allows simple temperature estimation to aid IRE treatment planning.