Ahmed S. El-Abd

The long-term results of lingual mucosal grafts for repairing long anterior urethral strictures

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the long-term results of repairing long anterior urethral strictures with lingual mucosa onlay grafts. Patients and methods; This study included 23 patients (mean age 36.3 years, range 21–62) who had a lingual mucosa onlay graft for managing a long anterior urethral stricture, and who were followed up for ⩾5 years. The mean length of the stricture was 4.6 cm. The International Prostate Symptom Score and uroflowmetry values were obtained before surgery, and at 3, 6 and 12 months afterwards, and annually thereafter. A retrograde urethrogram with a voiding cysto-urethrogram was taken before surgery, at catheter removal, after 3 and 6 months, and selectively thereafter. Results: The mean (range) follow-up was 66 (60–72) months. The cause of the stricture was trauma in nine patients, instrumentation in seven, idiopathic in four, urethritis in two and previous hypospadias repair in one. The surgery was successful in 20 of the 23 patients (87%), and a recurrent stricture developed in the remaining three. There were no fistulae or clinically perceptible graft sacculations, and no long-term donor-site complications. Conclusions: With a long-term follow-up, our series confirms the durability of lingual mucosal onlay grafts for treating long anterior urethral strictures. This procedure results in a long-term high success rate with few of the complications that occur primarily during the first year.

The development of ureteric strictures after ureteroscopic treatment for ureteric calculi: A long-term study at two academic centres

Abstract Objective: To determine the incidence of symptomatic and ‘silent’ obstruction after ureteroscopic procedures. Patients and methods: In all, 1980 patients underwent ureteroscopy for ureteric calculi in two large centres. The methods of disintegration, auxiliary procedures used and type of stenting were considered. Intraoperative complications, in addition to the size and site of the stone, were assessed in relation to postoperative obstruction. The mean (range) follow-up was 42 (12–68) months, with patients assessed after 3–6 months and yearly thereafter. The postoperative evaluation included an assessment of pain, renal ultrasonography, a plain abdominal film, intravenous urography, and a diuretic renal scan in some cases to confirm obstruction. Results: The success rate of stone removal was 98.5%. The failures were related to the size of the stone (>2 cm; P < 0.001). In eight patients there was a ureteric perforation, and six of these developed a ureteric stricture. A stricture also occurred in 12 patients (0.6%) during the follow-up; these included nine of 204 with stones of >2 cm (4.4%), compared to three (0.17%) of 1746 patients with stones of <2 cm (P < 0.001). Fourteen patients presented with pain (0.7%), and five had no obstruction, while in nine (0.46%) the pain was associated with obstruction. There was silent obstruction in three cases (0.15%). The negative and positive predictive values for pain were 99.8% and 64.3%, respectively. Conclusions: Radiographic surveillance for stricture formation and obstruction is mandatory in patients who are symptomatic after ureteroscopy, and for up to 18 months in patients with intraoperative complications or with a stone of >2 cm in the proximal ureter.

Intraprostatic injection of botulinum toxin-A in patients with refractory chronic pelvic pain syndrome: The transurethral vs. transrectal approach

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the outcome of an intraprostatic injection of botulinum toxin-A (BTX-A) in men with refractory chronic prostatitis-associated chronic pelvic-pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) and to compare the efficacy of the transurethral and transrectal routes. Patients and methods: In an uncontrolled randomised clinical trial conducted in men with refractory CP/CPPS, the patients were classified into two groups according to the route of BTX-A injection; transurethral (group 1, 28 patients) and transrectal ultrasonography-guided (group 2, 35 patients). The chronic prostatitis symptom index (CPSI), maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax) and white blood cell (WBC) count in expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) were measured before and at 3, 6 and 12 months after the injection. A significant clinical improvement (SCI, defined as a reduction of 4 points or a 25% decrease in total CPSI score) was correlated with patient age, prostate volume and symptom duration. Results: In group 1, the pain and quality-of-life domain scores improved, but statistically significantly only at 6 months. The voiding score improved at all follow-up visits. In group 2 there was a significant improvement in all the CPSI domain scores at all follow-up visits, except for pain, which was insignificantly improved by 12 months. The SCI ratings in groups 1 and 2 were 36%, 79% and 57%, and 49%, 89% and 74% in group 2 at the three follow-up visits, respectively. The Qmax was significantly improved in both groups during the follow-up (except at 12 months in group 1). There was a significant reduction in the mean WBC count in the EPS in patients with inflammatory prostatitis. Both prostate volume and symptom duration were significantly associated with a lower SCI rating. Conclusion: BTX-A is an available treatment option for patients with refractory CP/CPPS. It is more effective in patients with a small prostate and short symptom duration. The transrectal route provided better results than the transurethral route. More prospective longer term studies are needed.

The influence of body mass index on outcomes in ureteroscopy: Results from the clinical research office of endourological society URS global study

INTRODUCTION Although ureteroscopy (URS) has been established as a viable treatment for stones in obese patients, its safety and success has not been fully elucidated. The current study describes the worldwide prevalence of obesity in patients with urolithiasis and examines trends in URS outcomes, safety, and efficacy. METHODS This study utilized the Clinical Research Office of the Endourological Society (CROES) URS Global Study, which was a prospective, multicenter study including 11,885 patients treated with URS for urinary stones at 1 of 114 urology departments across 32 countries. The relationship between body mass index (BMI), diabetes, and creatinine, with retreatment, stone-free rates, complications, and long hospital stay, was examined with a multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS Of the 10,099 URS patients with BMI data, 17.4% were obese and 2.2% were super obese. Overall, 86.7% patients were stone free and 16.8% required retreatment. Higher BMI was associated with lower stone-free rates, and any deviation from normal weight was associated with higher retreatment rates. In multivariate analysis controlling for several variables including stone size, the association between BMI and lower stone-free rates with higher retreatment rates persisted. Intraoperative complications occurred in 518 (5.1%) patients, and 343 (3.4%) experienced a postoperative complication. Postoperative complications were more frequent in the underweight and super obese subjects, and there was no relationship between BMI and intraoperative complications. DISCUSSION Although URS for stone disease was found to be an overall safe procedure for obese and super obese patients, efficacy of the procedure may be lower compared with normal-weight subjects and higher retreatment rates may be necessary.

Validity of a sponge trainer as a simple training model for percutaneous renal access

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of our simply designed trainer for junior urologists to acquire the initial skills for percutaneous renal access (PRA). Subjects and methods: Three sponge sheets (60 × 50 × 10 cm) were arranged horizontally over each other. A rectangular groove was made in the middle sheet to accommodate an inflated balloon of a Foley catheter, radio-opaque metal balls, metal rings, or a plastic tube that were sequentially placed for the four training tasks. In each session, 18 trainees were asked to pass a fluoroscopically guided puncture needle from a surface point to the placed object in middle sheet. Clinical impact of training was evaluated by an experience survey on a 5-piont Likert scale (for model usefulness, tactile and fluoroscopic-guidance feedback) and success rate in further mentored practice. Results: There was a gradual increase in tasks’ and sessions’ scores over the training sessions. According to the experience survey after first clinical practice, the mean (SD) score for overall model usefulness by trainees was 3.8 (0.9) with high fluoroscopic guidance reality [3.6 (1.1)] but poor tactile realism [2.3 (0.9)]. On mentored PRA, the success rate for trainees was 78.3%. Conclusion: Our early evaluation showed our novel, cost-effective and reproducible sponge trainer could be an effective training model for PRA with a beneficial impact on subsequent clinical practice.

MP13-06 CAN INTRAVESICAL ADMINISTRATION OF ANTIFIBRINOLYTIC AGENT POTENTIATE THE ACTION OF BACILLUS CALMETTE- GUERIN AFTER TRANSURETHRAL RESECTION OF NON–MUSCLE INVASIVE BLADDER CANCER?: MULTICENTER PROSPECTIVE RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED STUDY.

transurethral resection (TUR) and additional adjuvant instillation in intermediate risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) to reduce the risk of recurrence. Pirarubicin (THP), an anthracycline analogue, is widely used reagent for intravesical instillation chemotherapy. Several studies have showed that THP can rapidly penetrate tumor tissue after intravesical instillation. Therefore long instillation time (e.g. 120 min) may not be required for its prophylactic effect against recurrence since it may reduce the risk of adverse events such as cystitis and hematuria without compromising its efficacy. However, there is no high level evidence regarding optimized intravesical THP instillation time in terms of both toxicity and efficacy. METHODS: This randomized, prospective, open-label trial intended to enroll 160 pts with primary NMIBC with intermediate risk based on EORTC criteria. All pts received initial THP instillation within 24 hr after TUR and then intended to continue weekly repetitive THP instillation for a total of 9 treatments. Pts who seemed likely to be at intermediate risk were provisionally registered and then randomized into two groups with different intravesical THP retention times before TUR, (a) 30 min versus (b) 120 min. Follow-up period is 4 years. Primary endpoint is change from baseline in quality of life (e.g. OABSS and IPSS), which will be evaluated prior to THP intravesical instillation. Secondary endpoint is recurrence-free survival. RESULTS: 126 pts were enrolled for provisional registration in this trial and randomized before TUR-B. After excluding pts due to the result of pathology by TUR-B such as benign disease, T1 G3 tumor and concomitance of CIS, 29 pts were assigned to group (a) (30 min), and 26 pts to group (b) (120 min). There is a trend that group (a) is less prone to increase in OABSS after 3rd instillation compared to group (b), which is not statistically significant. Log-rank test shows that there is no significant difference in recurrence-free survival between the groups during follow-up period (HR1⁄42.161, 95% C.I.: 0.4317-10.82, p1⁄40.3484). CONCLUSIONS: Shortening intravesical instillation period to 30 min has little effect on reducing the adverse effect of THP. However, it does not compromise the prophylactic effect on recurrence in intermediate risk NMIBC pts.

Goserelin acetate before transurethral resection of moderately enlarged benign prostatic hyperplasia: Prospective randomised-controlled clinical trial.

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the impact of a luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist, goserelin acetate (GA), on surgical blood loss during transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), as well as its histopathological effect on prostatic microvessel density (MVD). Patients and methods: Patients who underwent TURP due to benign prostatic enlargement (60–100 mL) were randomly subdivided into two equal groups according to whether they received preoperative GA administration (3.6 mg; group A) or not (group B). Evaluation parameters were operative time, weight of resected prostatic tissue, perioperative haematocrit (HCT) changes, estimation of intraoperative blood loss, and suburethral and stromal prostatic MVD. Effects of GA on prostate weight and any possible side-effects were also monitored. Results: In all, 35 and 33 patients were included in groups A and B, respectively. Operative time and HCT values’ changes were significantly less in group A (P < 0.05). Also, operative blood loss (both total and adjusted per weight of resected tissue) was lower in group A, at a mean (SD) of 178.13 (77.71) mL and 3.74 (1.52) mL/g vs 371.75 (91.09) mL and 8.59 (2.42) mL/g (P < 0.001). The median MVD in both suburethral [8 vs 11 vessels/high-power field (HPF)] and stromal tissues (9 vs 17 vessels/HPF) were significantly lower in group A (P < 0.001). Side-effects were minimal. Conclusion: A single dose of GA, a LHRH agonist, before TURP is safe and effective in reducing surgical blood loss. It significantly reduced MVD in both suburethral and stromal nodular prostatic tissues without regional discrepancy.