Abdulla Al-Ansari

GreenLight HPS 120-W Laser Vaporization Versus Transurethral Resection of the Prostate for Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: A Randomized Clinical Trial with Midterm Follow-up

BACKGROUND Photoselective vaporization (PVP) with the GreenLight HPS 120-W laser (GLL) was recently introduced for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). OBJECTIVE To compare results of GLL PVP and transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for treatment of BPH. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A total of 120 patients with BPH were randomly assigned to two equal groups: TURP or PVP. MEASUREMENTS Both groups were compared regarding all relevant preoperative, operative, and postoperative parameters. Functional results in terms of improvement of International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), maximum flow rate (Q(max)), and postvoid residual (PVR) urine were assessed at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 mo. A total of 55 and 54 patients completed 36 mo of follow-up in the TURP and PVP groups, respectively. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS Baseline characteristics were comparable. Mean operative time was significantly shorter for TURP. Compared to preoperative values, there was significant reduction in hemoglobin and serum sodium levels at the end of TURP only. A significant difference in favor of PVP was achieved regarding the duration of catheterization and hospital stay. In the PVP, no major intraoperative complications were recorded and none of the patients required blood transfusion. Among TURP patients, 12 (20%) required transfusion, 3 (5%) developed TUR syndrome, and capsule perforation was observed in 10 patients. There was dramatic improvement in Q(max), IPSS, and PVP compared with preoperative values and the degree of improvement was comparable in both groups at all time points of follow-up. Storage bladder symptoms were significantly higher in PVP. By the end of 36 mo, five patients in TURP and six in PVP were lost to follow-up. A redo procedure was required in one TURP patient and six PVP patients (p<0.05). Two TURP patients and four PVP patients developed bladder neck contracture (p>0.05) treated by bladder neck incision; none in either group experienced urethral stricture or urinary incontinence. CONCLUSIONS Compared with TURP, 120-W GLL PVP is safe and effective in treatment of BPH.

Varicocelectomy for Male Infertility: A Comparative Study of Open, Laparoscopic and Microsurgical Approaches

PURPOSE We compared the outcomes of 3 techniques of varicocelectomy in infertile patients with varicocele. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study included 298 infertile patients (446 varicoceles) who were randomized to varicocelectomy by an open inguinal technique in 92, laparoscopy in 94 and subinguinal microsurgery in 112. The 3 techniques were compared regarding intraoperative, and early and late postoperative parameters, changes in semen parameters and the pregnancy rate. Patients were followed a +/- mean +/- SD of 21 +/- 9 months (range 4 to 35). RESULTS Operative time was significantly longer in the microscopic group. Early postoperative complications were comparable in the 3 groups. At followup none of the patients in the microsurgical group had hydrocele, while it was observed in 4 of 143 (2.8%) in the open group and in 8 of 148 (5.4%) in the laparoscopy group, representing a significance difference in favor of microsurgery. The incidence of recurrent varicocele was significantly lower in the microsurgical group than in the open and laparoscopy groups (4 of 155 patients or 2.6% vs 16 of 143 or 11% and 25 of 148 or 17%, respectively). Compared to preoperative values in the 3 groups postoperative semen parameters showed significant improvement in sperm concentration, motility and morphology. The incidence of patients with improved sperm count and motility was significantly higher in the microsurgical group. The pregnancy rate at 1 year was not significantly different among the 3 groups. CONCLUSIONS Compared with open and laparoscopic varicocele treatment microsurgical varicocelectomy has the advantages of no hydrocele formation, a lower incidence of recurrent varicocele, and better improvement in sperm count and motility.

Efficacy of tamsulosin in the management of lower ureteral stones: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study of 100 patients.

OBJECTIVE To study the impact of tamsulosin on the rate of spontaneous passage of distal ureteral stones. METHODS A total of 100 patients with stones sized 10 mm or smaller, located in the distal part of the ureter were included. Patients were randomly assigned to 2 equal groups. Group 1 received 0.4 mg tamsulosin once daily and group 2 received placebo. The investigators and the patients were masked to the type of treatment. Patients were followed-up until passage of the stone, or for a maximum of 4 weeks. The number of pain episodes, need for analgesia, stone expulsion rate and time, and possible side effects of medications were observed in both groups. RESULTS Apart from 4 patients in the placebo group who were lost to follow-up, all patients complied with the prescribed medications and continued the study. Stone expulsion occurred in 41 of 50 patients (82%) in group 1 and in 28 of 46 patients (61%) in group 2 (P = .02). The chance of stone expulsion was 3 times higher in the tamsulosin group (relative risk [RR] = 2.93; 95% CI, 1.152-7.45). In group 1, patients with stones sized < or = 5 mm showed a significantly higher expulsion rate compared to those with larger stones (> 5 mm). Age, gender, and stone laterality had no significant impact on the expulsion rate. The expulsion time was significantly shorter in the tamsulosin group (6.4 +/- 2.77 days vs 9.87 +/- 5.4 days for groups 1 and 2, respectively). Moreover, the frequency of pain episodes, the need for diclofenac, and its total dosage were significantly lower in the tamsulosin group. Side effects observed in both groups were comparable and mild, and no patient withdrew because of them. CONCLUSIONS Tamsulosin is a safe and effective drug that enhances spontaneous passage of distal ureteral stones sized 10 mm or smaller.

Prognostic Factors of Success of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) in the Treatment of Renal Stones

Objectives: To evaluate the factors that affect the success rate of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) for treatment of renal stones. Patients and methods: Between January 2000 and December 2003, 427 patients with single or multiple renal stones (<30 mm, largest diameter) underwent ESWL monotherapy using Storz SL 20 lithotriptor. The results of treatment were evaluated after 3 months of follow-up. Treatment success was defined as complete clearance of the stones or presence of clinically insignificant residual fragments <4 mm. The success rate was correlated with the characteristics of the patients, conditions of the urinary tract and stone features. Results: At 3-month follow-up, the overall success rate was 333/427 (78%). Repeat treatment was needed in 226 patients (53.1%). Post-ESWL auxiliary procedures were required in 36 patients (8.4%). Post-ESWL complications were recorded in 16 patients (3.7%). Of the 10 prognostic factors studied, 5 had a significant impact on the success rate, namely: renal morphology, congenital anomalies, stone size, stone site and number of treated stones. Other factors including age, sex, nationality, stone nature (de novo or recurrent) and ureteric stenting had no significant impact on the success rate. Conclusions: The success rate of ESWL for the treatment of renal stones could be predicted by stone size, location and number, radiological renal features and congenital renal anomalies.

Prediction of success of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy in the treatment of ureteric stones.

AbstractObjectives To define the factors that affect the success rate of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) for the treatment of ureteric stones. Patients and methods Between January 2000 and December 2003, 468 patients with ureteric stones underwent in situ ESWL using Storz SL 20 lithotriptor. The results of treatment were evaluated after 3 months of follow-up. Treatment success was defined as complete clearance of the stones. Characteristics of the patients, condition of the urinary tract and stone features were correlated to the success rate to define the significant predictors of success. Results At 3-month follow-up, the overall success rate was 394/468 (84.2%). Repeat treatment was required in 239 patients (51.1%). Post-ESWL auxiliary procedures were necessary in 58 patients (12.4%). Post-ESWL complications were observed in 11 patients (2.4%). Only three factors had a significant impact on the stone-free rate, namely stone site, stone width and the presence of a ureteral stent. The stone-free rate was highest for stones located in the lumbar ureter (159/183; 86.9%) and lowest for those in iliac ureter (28/40; 70%) (P < 0.05). Stones with a transverse diameter <8 mm were associated with a stone-free rate of 89.9% (248/276), compared to 66.7% (128/192) for those with a transverse diameter of >8 mm (P < 0.01). Non-stented patients had a stone-free rate of 89.2% (313/348), compared to 75.2% (85/113) for stented patients (P < 0.01). Conclusions The site and transverse diameter of the stone and the presence of a ureteral stent are the only significant predictors of success of ESWL therapy for ureteric stones.

Subcutaneous cod liver oil injection for penile augmentation: review of literature and report of eight cases.

OBJECTIVES To study the presentations and treatment outcome of 8 consecutive patients for whom cod liver oil was injected in the subcutaneous area of their penises by a lay person for purpose of augmentation. METHODS Various amounts of cod liver oil were injected in the subcutaneous area of the penis of 8 low socioeconomic class patients by a nonmedical person. They presented by various complications ranging from paraphimosis up to abscess formation and necrosis of penile skin. All the patients underwent emergency initial surgical intervention ranging from dorsal preputial slit to skin debridement. Definitive surgical treatment was carried out using local penile flap and V-Y plasty. RESULTS The severity of complications was correlated to the amount of oil injected and the time interval between injections and presentation. All the 8 patients were cured after different staged surgical procedures. The postoperative course was uneventful in 6 patients, and 2 patients suffered from wound infection after the secondary treatment. All patients had acceptable cosmetic and functional outcome, and were satisfied regarding the length of the penis. None reported erectile dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS Increased public awareness is indicated to avoid this problem. Early detection and prompt treatment give acceptable anatomic and functional results.

Automatic segmentation of occluded vasculature via pulsatile motion analysis in endoscopic robot-assisted partial nephrectomy video

Hilar dissection is an important and delicate stage in partial nephrectomy, during which surgeons remove connective tissue surrounding renal vasculature. Serious complications arise when the occluded blood vessels, concealed by fat, are missed in the endoscopic view and as a result are not appropriately clamped. Such complications may include catastrophic blood loss from internal bleeding and associated occlusion of the surgical view during the excision of the cancerous mass (due to heavy bleeding), both of which may compromise the visibility of surgical margins or even result in a conversion from a minimally invasive to an open intervention. To aid in vessel discovery, we propose a novel automatic method to segment occluded vasculature from labeling minute pulsatile motion that is otherwise imperceptible with the naked eye. Our segmentation technique extracts subtle tissue motions using a technique adapted from phase-based video magnification, in which we measure motion from periodic changes in local phase information albeit for labeling rather than magnification. Based on measuring local phase through spatial decomposition of each frame of the endoscopic video using complex wavelet pairs, our approach assigns segmentation labels by detecting regions exhibiting temporal local phase changes matching the heart rate. We demonstrate how our technique is a practical solution for time-critical surgical applications by presenting quantitative and qualitative performance evaluations of our vessel detection algorithms with a retrospective study of fifteen clinical robot-assisted partial nephrectomies.

Complications of penile augmentation by use of nonmedical industrial silicone.

INTRODUCTION Penile augmentation has been reported in the literature by injecting various materials by nonmedical persons. AIM This study aims to present our experience in management of penile augmentation complications associated with injection or implantation of industrial silicone by lay persons. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Early surgical intervention can lead to faster recovery and better cosmetic and functional outcome. METHODS Two patients had injection of industrial silicone paste, and the other two had industrial silicone ring implantation. All the patients except one were presented after 13 months of the procedure. Patients with industrial silicone ring presented with multiple sinuses of penile skin in one, and abscess discharge pus from the site of implanted ring in the other. Both patients with injected silicone paste presented with swelling and deformity of the penis that interfered with their intercourse. Silicone ring patients underwent skin incision and drainage of the infected materials and extraction of the implants with delayed skin closure. The two patients with silicone paste injection underwent two-stage penile reconstructions using scrotal flap. RESULTS Patients with extracted rings had smooth recovery with acceptable cosmetic outcome. One of them was not initially satisfied with the length of his penis that was overcome by short-term use of vacuum device. One of the patients with silicone paste injection had wound infection that was successfully treated with local wound care. Both had satisfactory penile length and acceptable cosmetic outcome. All patients had normal erectile function postoperatively. CONCLUSION Complications of using industrial silicone injection can be drastic, and awareness of the public can avoid using of this material for penile augmentation.

Efficient multi-organ segmentation in multi-view endoscopic videos using pre-operative priors.

Synergistic fusion of pre-operative (pre-op) and intraoperative (intra-op) imaging data provides surgeons with invaluable insightful information that can improve their decision-making during minimally invasive robotic surgery. In this paper, we propose an efficient technique to segment multiple objects in intra-op multi-view endoscopic videos based on priors captured from pre-op data. Our approach leverages information from 3D pre-op data into the analysis of visual cues in the 2D intra-op data by formulating the problem as one of finding the 3D pose and non-rigid deformations of tissue models driven by features from 2D images. We present a closed-form solution for our formulation and demonstrate how it allows for the inclusion of laparoscopic camera motion model. Our efficient method runs in real-time on a single core CPU making it practical even for robotic surgery systems with limited computational resources. We validate the utility of our technique on ex vivo data as well as in vivo clinical data from laparoscopic partial nephrectomy surgery and demonstrate its robustness in segmenting stereo endoscopic videos.

Auto Localization and Segmentation of Occluded Vessels in Robot-Assisted Partial Nephrectomy

Hilar dissection is an important and delicate stage in partial nephrectomy during which surgeons remove connective tissue surrounding renal vasculature. Potentially serious complications arise when vessels occluded by fat are missed in the endoscopic view and are not appropriately clamped. To aid in vessel discovery, we propose an automatic method to localize and label occluded vasculature. Our segmentation technique is adapted from phase-based video magnification, in which we measure subtle motion from periodic changes in local phase information albeit for labeling rather than magnification. We measure local phase through spatial decomposition of each frame of the endoscopic video using complex wavelet pairs. We then assign segmentation labels based on identifying responses of regions exhibiting temporal local phase changes matching the heart rate frequency. Our method is evaluated with a retrospective study of eight real robot-assisted partial nephrectomies demonstrating utility for surgical guidance that could potentially reduce operation times and complication rates.