Economic impact of remote monitoring after implantable defibrillators implantation in heart failure patients: an analysis from the EFFECT study.

Aims: Heart failure (HF) patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) require admissions for disease management and out-patient visits for disease management and assessment of device performance. These admissions place a significant burden on the National Health Service. Remote monitoring (RM) is an effective alternative to frequent hospital visits.

Nonabsorbable polymer clip as a cause of chronic perineal pain after radical prostatectomy: Description of a case treated by transperineal approach.

The occurrence of persistent perineal pain caused by surgical clips has rarely been described after radical prostatectomy (RP). We describe the case of a patient complaining of chronic perineal pain occurred soon after robotic RP, refractory to conventional medical therapy and exacerbated by the sitting position. Pain was related to a nonabsorbable polymer clip used to secure lateral pedicles.

Benign Prostatic Obstruction Relief in Patients with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Suggestive of Benign Prostatic Enlargement Undergoing Endoscopic Surgical Procedures or Therapy with Alpha-Blockers: A Review of Urodynamic Studies.

Benign prostatic obstruction (BPO) contributes to the genesis of lower urinary tract symptoms as well as to pathologic remodeling of the lower and upper urinary tract in patients with benign prostate enlargement. Urodynamic studies demonstrate that both medical therapy with alpha-blockers (ABs) and endoscopic surgical procedures provide BPO relief. However, the magnitude of improvement is higher after surgery.

Mortality from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in Western Europe over the last 40 years.

Background & Aims: Cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are highly prevalent in Europe, with accompanying high mortality rates and social costs. As epidemiological data on these diseases are scarce, age-standardized death rate (ASDR) can serve as an indirect assessment of their burden.

Methods: We analysed the ASDRs for LC and HCC from data reported in the WHO official death registries from 1970 to 2010, and compared ASDRs over the decades.

The impact of previous prostate surgery on the outcomes of laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes in laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) in patients who had undergone prior prostate surgery (PPS).

Methods: In this study 946 consecutive LR P patients were included and a retrospective comparison between those patients who had received PPS (group A) and those who had not received PPS (group B) was carried out. The preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative data was collected in a prospectively-maintained database.

Efficacy of an orally administered combination of hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate, curcumin and quercetin for the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women.

Objective: To assess whether the orally administered combination of hyaluronic acid (HA), chondroitin sulfate (CS), curcumin and quercetin could be effective in preventing recurrent cystitis in postmenopausal women and whether its efficacy was conditioned by the concurrent use of local estrogen therapy.

Study Design: This was a prospective evaluation of 145 postmenopausal women consecutively recruited from the database of three different investigators. All women should have mild-to-moderate urogenital atrophy and a history of recurrent urinary tract infections (≥2 episodes within 6 months or ≥3 episodes within 12 months documented by positive urine cultures) during the last year.

Complications and quality of life in elderly patients with several comorbidities undergoing cutaneous ureterostomy with single stoma or ileal conduit after radical cystectomy.

Objectives: To compare peri-operative outcomes and quality of life (QoL) in a series of elderly patients with high comorbidity status who underwent single stoma cutaneous ureterostomy (CU) or ileal conduit (IC) after radical cystectomy (RC).

Patients And Methods: The clinical records of patients aged >75 years with an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score >2 who underwent RC at a single institution between March 2009 and March 2014 were retrospectively analysed. After RC, all patients included in the study received an IC urinary diversion or a CU with single stoma urinary diversion.

α1-Blockers Improve Benign Prostatic Obstruction in Men with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Urodynamic Studies.

Context: The urodynamic outcomes for α1-blockers (ABs) treatment in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms related to benign prostatic enlargement (LUTS/BPE) is a matter of debate.

Objective: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies evaluating the ABs urodynamic outcomes in patients with LUTS/BPE. The primary endpoint was variation in bladder outlet obstruction index (BOOI).

Obstetric outcome associated with trial of labor in women with three prior cesarean delivery and at least one prior vaginal birth in an area with a particularly high rate of cesarean delivery.

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) in women with three prior cesarean delivery (CD) and at least one prior vaginal delivery.

Methods: This is a retrospective study using data collected from clinical records of women three prior CD and at least one prior vaginal delivery who were referred to our unit. Maternal and perinatal outcomes were compared between women with three prior CD who underwent TOLAC and those who underwent planned repeated CD (i.

VTE Registry: What Can Be Learned from RIETE?

The Registro Informatizado de Enfermedad TromboEmbólica (RIETE Registry) is an ongoing, international, prospective registry of consecutive patients with acute venous thromboembolism (VTE) designed to gather and analyze data on treatment patterns and outcomes in patients with acute VTE. It started in Spain in 2001, and 6 years later the database was translated into English with the aim to expand the Registry to other countries. In contrast to randomized controlled trials, there is no imposed experimental intervention: the management is determined solely by physicians.

Transperineal repair of a persistent rectourethral fistula using a porcine dermal graft.

Introduction: Rectourethral fistula (RUF) is a rare major complication after radical prostatectomy (RP). Management of patients with persistent RUFs after primary repair is controversial and technically challenging.

Presentation Of Case: We describe the case of a patient with history of RUF secondary to rectal injury during laparoscopic RP and failed trans-abdominal repair.

Medical expulsive therapy for distal ureteric stones: tamsulosin versus silodosin.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy and safety of tamsulosin and silodosin in the context of medical expulsive therapy (MET) of distal ureteric stones.

Patients And Methods: Observational data were collected retrospectively from patients who received silodosin (N = 50) or tamsulosin (N = 50) as MET from January 2012 to January 2013. Inclusion criteria were: patients aged ≥ 18 years with a single, unilateral, symptomatic, radiopaque ureteric stone of 10 mm or smaller in the largest dimension located between the lower border of the sacroiliac joint and the vesico-ureteric junction.

Differentiation of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells, WJ-MSCs, into chondrogenic cells in the presence of pulsed electromagnetic fields.

During cartilage regeneration, proliferation and differentiation of new chondrocytes are required and towards this goal, in humans electromagnetic stimulation has been used in order to increase the spontaneous regenerative capacity of bone and cartilage tissue. In vivo tissue engineering has pointed out that the absence of an abundant source of cells accelerating the healing process is a limiting factor in the ability to repair articular cartilage. Considering that the umbilical cord is a viable alternative source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), our study evaluated the possibility of a combined use of Wharton's jelly - mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) and pulsed electromagnetic field (PMEF).

Neonatal onset intestinal failure: an Italian Multicenter Study.

Objective: To describe the natural course of intestinal failure with onset in the neonatal period to provide data regarding the occurrence and to provide a population-based survey regarding the spectrum of underlying diseases.

Study Design: We performed a retrospective chart review including infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of 7 Italian tertiary care centers. Intestinal failure was defined as a primary intestinal disease that induces the need of total parenteral nutrition (PN) for more than 4 weeks or the need of partial PN for more than 3 months.

SV-IV Peptide1-16 reduces coagulant power in normal Factor V and Factor V Leiden.

Native Factor V is an anticoagulant, but when activated by thrombin, Factor X or platelet proteases, it becomes a procoagulant. Due to these double properties, Factor V plays a crucial role in the regulation of coagulation/anticoagulation balance. Factor V Leiden (FVL) disorder may lead to thrombophilia.