A clever technique for placement of a urinary catheter over a wire.

Objective: The objective was to present a straightforward, step-by-step reproducible technique for placement of a guide-wire into any type of urethral catheter, thereby offering a means of access similar to that of a council-tip in a situation that may require a different type of catheter guided over a wire.

Materials And Methods: Using a shielded intravenous catheter inserted into the eyelet of a urinary catheter and through the distal tip, a "counsel-tip" can be created in any size or type of catheter. Once transurethral bladder access has been achieved with a hydrophilic guide-wire, this technique will allow unrestricted use of catheters placed over a wire facilitating guided catheterization.

Prostate cancers detected during 5α-reductase inhibitor use are smaller, de-differentiated, but confined when compared to controls.

Rationale: To compare cancers detected during use of 5α-reductase inhibitors (5αRI) with cancers detected in untreated controls stratified for tumor size.

Methods: Prostate biopsies were performed on 235 consecutive patients "for cause" (elevated or rising PSA, positive digital rectal examination, or focal hypoechoic lesion). Fifty patients were excluded for a prior diagnosis of cancer, leaving 185 as the study group (5αRI=41, control=144).

Focal prostate cryoablation: initial results show cancer control and potency preservation.

Background: Focal prostate cryoablation is the less-than-complete ablation of the gland with ice. Known tumor is ablated aggressively, whereas contralateral prostate tissue and surrounding structures are spared. This method offers targeted local cancer control aiming at sexual potency and urinary continence preservation in patients whose prostate cancer is believed to be unilateral.

In treating localized prostate cancer the efficacy of cryoablation is independent of DNA ploidy type.

While the prognostic value of DNA ploidy has been well established for radical prostatectomy, external beam radiation, brachytherapy and androgen deprivation therapy its role as a survival outcome predictor for prostate cancer patients treated with cryoablation has not yet been examined. Anecdotal evidence suggesting that cryoablation may be independent of DNA ploidy type led to the implementation of the current study. Retrospective analysis of data including flow digital cytometry was performed on 447 archival specimens taken from patients who had undergone cryosurgical ablation of primary prostate cancer.

Salvage cryosurgery for recurrent prostate cancer after radiation therapy: a seven-year follow-up.

Cryosurgery of the prostate presents as an efficient therapy following failed radiation therapy. We report on a 7-year retrospective analysis evaluating the morbidity adn biochemical disease-free survival(bDFS) of this therapy. Between 1993 and 2001, 59 patients who had been previously treated with radiation therapy and had rising serum prostate-specific antigen(PSA) values underwent salvage cryoablation of the prostate for localized, histologically proven, recurrent prostate cancer.

Targeted cryoablation of the prostate: 7-year outcomes in the primary treatment of prostate cancer.

The efficacy and safety of the long-term experience with targeted cryoablation of prostate cancer (TCAP) at a community hospital is retrospectively reviewed. A series of 590 consecutive patients who underwent TCAP as primary therapy with curative intent for localized or locally advanced prostate cancer from March 1993 to September 2001 were identified. Patients were stratified into 3 risk groups according to clinical characteristics.