Jack S. Elder

Pediatric Vesicoureteral Reflux Guidelines Panel Summary Report on the Management of Primary Vesicoureteral Reflux in Children

PURPOSE The American Urological Association convened the Pediatric Vesicoureteral Reflux Guidelines Panel to analyze the literature regarding available methods for treating vesicoureteral reflux diagnosed following a urinary tract infection in children and to make practice policy recommendations based on the treatment outcomes data insofar as the data permit. MATERIALS AND METHODS The panel searched the MEDLINE data base for all articles from 1965 to 1994 on vesicoureteral reflux and systematically analyzed outcomes data for 7 treatment alternatives: 1) intermittent antibiotic therapy, 2) bladder training, 3) continuous antibiotic prophylaxis, 4) antibiotic prophylaxis and bladder training, 5) antibiotic prophylaxis, anticholinergics and bladder training, 6) open surgical repair and 7) endoscopic repair. Key outcomes identified were probability of reflux resolution, likelihood of developing pyelonephritis and scarring, and possibility of complications of medical and surgical treatment. RESULTS Available outcomes data on the various treatment alternatives were summarized in tabular form and graphically, and the relative probabilities of possible outcomes were compared for each alternative. Treatment recommendations were based on scientific evidence and expert opinion. The panel concluded that only a few recommendations can be derived purely from scientific evidence of a beneficial effect on health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS For most children the panel recommended continuous antibiotic prophylaxis as initial treatment. Surgery was recommended for children with persistent reflux and other indications, as specified in the document.

Summary of the AUA Guideline on Management of Primary Vesicoureteral Reflux in Children

PURPOSE The American Urological Association established the Vesicoureteral Reflux Guideline Update Committee in July 2005 to update the management of primary vesicoureteral reflux in children guideline. The Panel defined the task into 5 topics pertaining to specific vesicoureteral reflux management issues, which correspond to the management of 3 distinct index patients and the screening of 2 distinct index patients. This report summarizes the existing evidence pertaining to children with diagnosed reflux including those young or older than 1 year without evidence of bladder and bowel dysfunction and those older than 1 year with evidence of bladder and bowel dysfunction. From this evidence clinical practice guidelines were developed to manage the clinical scenarios insofar as the data permit. MATERIALS AND METHODS The Panel searched the MEDLINE(R) database from 1994 to 2008 for all relevant articles dealing with the 5 chosen guideline topics. The database was reviewed and each abstract segregated into a specific topic area. Exclusions were case reports, basic science, secondary reflux, review articles and not relevant. The extracted article to be accepted should have assessed a cohort of children with vesicoureteral reflux and a defined care program that permitted identification of cohort specific clinical outcomes. The reporting of meta-analysis of observational studies elaborated by the MOOSE (Meta-analysis Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) group was followed. The extracted data were analyzed and formulated into evidence-based recommendations. RESULTS A total of 2,028 articles were reviewed and data were extracted from 131 articles. Data from 17,972 patients were included in this analysis. This systematic meta-analysis identified increasing frequency of urinary tract infection, increasing grade of vesicoureteral reflux and presence of bladder and bowel dysfunction as unique risk factors for renal cortical scarring. The efficacy of continuous antibiotic prophylaxis could not be established with current data. However, its purported lack of efficacy, as reported in selected prospective clinical trials, also is unproven owing to significant limitations in these studies. Reflux resolution and endoscopic surgical success rates are dependent upon bladder and bowel dysfunction. The Panel then structured guidelines for clinical vesicoureteral reflux management based on the goals of minimizing the risk of acute infection and renal injury, while minimizing the morbidity of testing and management. These guidelines are specific to children based on age as well as the presence of bladder and bowel dysfunction. Recommendations for long-term followup based on risk level are also included. CONCLUSIONS Using a structured, formal meta-analytic technique with rigorous data selection, conditioning and quality assessment, we attempted to structure clinically relevant guidelines for managing vesicoureteral reflux in children. The lack of robust prospective randomized controlled trials limits the strength of these guidelines but they can serve to provide a framework for practice and set boundaries for safe and effective practice. As new data emerge, these guidelines will necessarily evolve.

Endoscopic Therapy for Vesicoureteral Reflux: A Meta-Analysis. I. Reflux Resolution and Urinary Tract Infection

PURPOSE Current American Urological Association treatment guidelines for vesicoureteral reflux do not include any recommendations pertaining to endoscopic therapy (subureteral injection of bulking agent). We performed a meta-analysis of the existing literature pertaining to endoscopic treatment to allow comparison with reports of open surgical correction. MATERIALS AND METHODS We searched all peer reviewed articles published through 2003 pertaining to endoscopic treatment of vesicoureteral reflux. A total of 63 articles were double reviewed by 9 pediatric urologists, and the data were tabulated on data retrieval sheets. A mixed effects logistic regression model was used to obtain overall estimates of event probabilities (eg reflux resolution, ureteral obstruction) together with their 95% confidence intervals. Individual study estimates were obtained with overall estimate and observation characteristics using empirical Bayes calculations. Differences between or among specific groups were assessed using the F-test. RESULTS The database included 5,527 patients and 8,101 renal units. Following 1 treatment the reflux resolution rate (by ureter) for grades I and II reflux was 78.5%, grade III 72%, grade IV 63% and grade V 51%. If the first injection was unsuccessful, the second treatment had a success rate of 68%, and the third treatment 34%. The aggregate success rate with 1 or more injections was 85%. The success rate was significantly lower for duplicated (50%) vs single systems (73%), and neuropathic (62%) vs normal bladders (74%). The success rate was similar among children and adults. Following a previous failed open reimplantation endoscopic treatment was successful in 65% of patients. After endoscopic treatment with variable followup pyelonephritis developed in 0.75% of patients and cystitis in 6%. There were few reports of renal scarring following treatment. CONCLUSIONS Endoscopic treatment provides a high rate of success in children with reflux that decreases with increasing grade, although multiple treatments may be necessary. Future reports of endoscopic therapy should include rates of urinary tract infection and renal scarring.

Xanthogranulomatous Pyelonephritis: A Critical Analysis of 26 Cases and of the Literature

Manifestations of xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis in 26 patients closely mimicked those of neoplastic and other inflammatory renal parenchymal diseases. Middle-aged or older women were affected most often. Most patients presented with anemia, chronic febrile illness, a painful tender flank mass and recurrent urosepsis. Some features of nephrogenic hepatic dysfunction were present in 13 patients. Bacterial cultures of renal tissue were almost always positive but the spectrum differed considerably from that of the bladder urine. Urographically, a renal mass lesion was encountered in 62% of the patients, nephrolithiasis in 38% and a functionless kidney in 27%. Angiographically, none of the 4 mass lesions studied was distinguished from hypernephroma. Indeed, a correct preoperative diagnosis was made in only 1 instance. There were 3 stages of xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis recognized. Treatment consisted of nephrectomy for diffuse or advanced stage disease or both (21 patients), excision of the diseased renal segment for localized and low stage disease (2 patients) and renal biopsy (3 patients). Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis did not recur but in some patients bacteriuria continued or hypertension developed.

Radical perineal prostatectomy for clinical stage B2 carcinoma of the prostate

To refine the criteria for radical surgery in clinical stage B2 prostatic cancer a retrospective study was made of 53 patients who underwent radical perineal prostatectomy between 1951 and 1963. The 15-year survival free of tumor was 25 per cent, significantly less than the 51 per cent survival rate in a series of patients with clinical B1 disease undergoing radical perineal prostatectomy during the same period. Sixty-six per cent of the patients had extraprostatic extension of tumor on histological examination. The 15-year survival free of tumor in these patients was only 13 per cent, whereas those patients with tumor histologically confined to the prostate had a 15-year survival rate of 50 per cent, equal to an age-matched control population. Thus, although prolonged survival was demonstrated in patients without extraprostatic extension only a third of all clinical B2 cases were in this favorable category. Consequently, until improved reliable techniques for detection of extraprostatic extension become available it seems unwise to recommend radical prostatectomy as the treatment of choice for all men with clinical stage B2 disease.

Cryptorchidism and Testicular Cancer: Separating Fact From Fiction

PURPOSE We dissected prevailing assumptions about cryptorchidism and reviewed data that support and reject these assumptions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Five questions about cryptorchidism and the risk of testicular cancer were identified because of their implications in parent counseling and clinical management. Standard search techniques through MEDLINE were used to identify all relevant English language studies of the questions being examined. Each of the 5 questions was then examined in light of the existing data. RESULTS The RR of testicular cancer in a cryptorchidism case is 2.75 to 8. A RR of between 2 and 3 has been noted in patients who undergo orchiopexy by ages 10 to 12 years. Patients who undergo orchiopexy after age 12 years or no orchiopexy are 2 to 6 times as likely to have testicular cancer as those who undergo prepubertal orchiopexy. A contralateral, normally descended testis in a patient with cryptorchidism carries no increased risk of testis cancer. Persistently cryptorchid (inguinal and abdominal) testes are at higher risk for seminoma (74%), while corrected cryptorchid or scrotal testicles that undergo malignant transformation are most likely to become nonseminomatous (63%, p <0.0001), presumably because of a decreased risk of seminoma. CONCLUSIONS Orchiectomy may be considered in healthy patients with cryptorchidism who are between ages 12 and 50 years. Observation should be recommended in postpubertal males at significant anesthetic risk and all males older than 50 years. While 5% to 15% of scrotal testicular remnants contain germinal tissue, only 1 case of carcinoma in situ has been reported, suggesting that the risk of malignancy in these remnants is extremely low.

INTERVENTION FOR FETAL OBSTRUCTIVE UROPATHY: HAS IT BEEN EFFECTIVE?

The best management of fetal hydronephrosis is controversial. Despite the lack of experimental evidence that prenatal drainage of the obstructed urinary tract substantially improves ultimate renal function, various forms of percutaneous intervention on the fetal bladder and kidney have been used. To evaluate the efficacy of intervention for suspected fetal obstructive uropathy, all published reports of drainage of the fetal urinary tract up to December, 1985, were reviewed. In the 57 reported cases, the most common type of intervention was placement of a vesicoamniotic shunt (37%). Complications occurred in 25 cases (44%), including inadequate shunt drainage or migration (19%), onset of premature labour within 48 h (12%), urinary ascites (7%), and chorioamnionitis (5%). Of 28 fetuses with associated oligohydramnios, only 6 (21%) survived. 2 of these survivors had vesicoamniotic shunts, 2 single or multiple bladder aspirations, 1 an external renal drainage catheter, and 1 in-utero vesicostomy. Because of the high complication rate and lack of evidence of improved survival from in-utero drainage procedures, a prospective, randomised trial is needed to compare survival with and without vesicoamniotic shunt placement.

Onlay Island Flap in the Repair of Mid and Distal Penile Hypospadias Without Chordee

The onlay island flap is a variation of the transverse preputial island flap for hypospadias repair. It is useful in patients without fibrous chordee whose meatus is mid penile or subcoronal. This technique was used in 50 patients and the results were compared to those of 34 patients undergoing the Mathieu meatal-based flap (flip-flap) during the same period. The cosmetic results with the onlay island flap were quite satisfactory and the complication rate was 6 per cent, which was identical to that observed with the Mathieu repair. The onlay island flap is applicable particularly in patients with mid shaft hypospadias without chordee, if the meatus is too proximal for a Mathieu repair and in patients with distal penile hypospadias with deficient ventral skin.

Kidney Stone Removal: Percutaneous Versus Surgical Lithotomy

Percutaneous removal of most urinary tract calculi may be performed as a 1-stage effort with techniques and skills developed recently in the specialties of urology and radiology. Ultrasonic fragmentation of most calculi was done to permit their extraction. Percutaneous ultrasonic lithotripsy was performed on 250 consecutive (a single exception) patients bearing stones that required removal. Targeted calculi were removed successfully from 97 per cent of these patients. One patient required surgical lithotomy. The previous 100 patients with stones underwent surgical lithotomy with 96 per cent success. Complications of percutaneous ultrasonic lithotripsy appeared equitable with those of surgical lithotomy. Of the patients who underwent percutaneous ultrasonic lithotripsy 6 (6 per cent) required extended hospital days or additional procedures for management of complications. None of these patients required a surgical incision. Anesthesia times were similar for both groups--average 159 plus or minus 4 (standard error) minutes for percutaneous ultrasonic lithotripsy and 193 plus or minus 8 minutes for surgical lithotomy. Hospital recovery days averaged 5.5 plus or minus 0.3 for percutaneous ultrasonic lithotripsy and 8.4 plus or minus 0.5 for surgical lithotomy (p less than 0.01). Associated costs averaged

ANTENATAL HYDRONEPHROSIS: Fetal and Neonatal Management

7,203 plus or minus 55 for lithotripsy and