L. Boccon-Gibod

The management of stress urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy

Up to 30% of patients complain about urine leakage after radical prostatectomy, but persistent stress incontinence (beyond 1 year) affects <5% of them. This complication is mainly caused by sphincter dysfunction. Some preventive measures have been described to decrease the risk of incontinence after radical prostatectomy, but with conflicting results. The effectiveness of preoperative and early postoperative physiotherapy is controversial. Moreover, while meticulous apical dissection of the prostate significantly improves postoperative continence, the benefit of other surgical techniques, e.g. preserving the bladder neck and the neurovascular bundles, is under debate. The treatment of persistent stress urinary incontinence is mainly based on surgery, as this type of incontinence usually does not respond to physiotherapy and anticholinergic medication. While injection therapy is safe and well tolerated, its effect on postoperative continence is limited and decreases with time. The best results are achieved by implanting an artificial urinary sphincter, but with significant complication and revision rates.

PAIN AND MORBIDITY OF AN EXTENSIVE PROSTATE 10-BIOPSY PROTOCOL: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY IN 289 PATIENTS

PURPOSE Some studies imply that increasing the number of prostate biopsy cores may improve the cancer detection rate. We performed a prospective study to evaluate pain and morbidity after an extensive transrectal ultrasound guided 10-core biopsy protocol. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 289 consecutive men with abnormal digital rectal examination findings and/or increased prostate specific antigen underwent extensive prostate biopsy involving 6 sextant and 4 peripheral biopsies. Each received an information leaflet a few days before the procedure. A single dose of fluoroquinolone and a rectal enema were administered before biopsy. In no case was the procedure performed using anesthesia. Immediately after biopsy patients were asked to complete a self-administered nonvalidated questionnaire evaluating the degree of pain and/or discomfort using a visual analog scale. In another questionnaire they listed the side effects noticed during month 1 after biopsy. RESULTS Although 48% of the 275 men who completed the initial questionnaire reported anxiety before the procedure, 78.8% of them were completely reassured by the information brochure. Of the 275 patients 47.6% described the procedure as painful, including only slightly painful (analog visual scale 3 or less) in 67.9%, while 33.8% described it as uncomfortable but not painful and 18.6% thought that it was neither painful nor uncomfortable. Of the 115 patients who engaged in sexual intercourse during month 1 after the procedure 78.3% noticed hematospermia an average of 10.9 days in duration. Of the 164 men who completed questionnaire 2, 74.4% noticed hematuria an average of 2.7 days in duration, 3.7% noticed pyrexia and 1.2% noticed acute prostatitis. In the 59 patients (36%) who reported delayed perineal pain it was slight in 64.4%, moderate in 30.5% and severe in 5.1%. No patient required hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS Although minor complications are common, the extensive 10-core prostate biopsy protocol is associated with few major complications. The occurrence and intensity of pain and discomfort are in the range reported after the standard 6-core biopsy protocol.

Predictive value of pathological features for progression after radical prostatectomy

OBJECTIVE 10-30% of patients with T1/T2 prostate cancer submitted to radical prostatectomy ultimately fail. It may be important to detect failure as early as possible in order to evaluate the extent of recurrent/residual disease and initiate adjuvant therapy. SUBJECTS AND METHODS 100 consecutive patients with localized prostate cancer treated by radical prostatectomy have been monitored using the hypersensitive Pros-check prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assay (detection level 0.1 ng/ml). The predictive value of positive surgical margins, involvement of seminal vesicles and perineural spaces as well as Gleasons score for biological failure (persistent or recurrent detectable PSA) has been retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS Overall 40% of the patients had biological failure (defined as persistence of a detectable or rising PSA after undetectability) and 38% had positive surgical margins. The three main predictive criteria of biological failure were capsular perforation, involvement of seminal vesicles and/or positive margins. All patients in whom these criteria were positive progressed. Seminal vesicle invasion was associated with biological failure in 95% of the cases. 66.7% of the patients with extracapsular disease but no seminal vesicle invasion progressed. 15% of pT2 patients experienced a persistent/recurrent postoperative PSA and were upstaged to pT3 after reevaluation of the specimen. CONCLUSION Efforts should be made to increase the preoperative evaluation of seminal vesicle and pericapsular status by a more sophisticated technique of prostate biopsy in order to avoid noncurative surgery.

Diagnostic Value of Ten Systematic TRUS-Guided Prostate Biopsies

Objective: To evaluate the improvement in the rate of detection of prostate cancer using an extensive protocol involving ten transrectal biopsies. Methods: A total of 162 patients submitted to transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy for elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and/or abnormality on digital rectal examination were studied consecutively and prospectively. Five biopsies were performed in each lobe: between the three standard biopsies on each side, two additional biopsy specimens were taken in the same plane and at the same 45° angle. Results: The complication rate with the ten-biopsy protocol was 1.85%. Prostate cancer was detected in 40.1% of the patients. In the overall series, the percentage of diagnostic improvement brought about by this ten-biopsy protocol was +3.1%. The percentage improvement was greatest (+4.9%) in patients with PSA ≤10 ng/ml. Conclusion: Increasing the number of biopsy cores without altering the angle of biopsy and/or the zone sampled does not lead to a significant improvement in the detection of prostate cancer.

Micturition Disturbances and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

PURPOSE Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections often lead to urological disorders, including tumors, infections and micturitional disturbances. It often is difficult to identify the origin of voiding disorders but the most frequent causes are infections (prostatitis and so forth), obstruction (cervico-prostatic or urethral) and neurological (encephalitis, myelitis, polyradiculoneuritis and so forth). We determined the etiologies, therapy and clinical outcome of micturitional disturbances in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between February 1989 and September 1992 we studied prospectively 39 HIV positive patients with voiding symptoms, such as straining, urinary retention, frequency and urgency. Each patient underwent a thorough neurological and urological examination, along with radiological evaluation of the urogenital tract and nervous system. Urodynamic evaluation was performed to specify the etiology and type of disturbance before treatment. The patients were followed for 2 to 24 months (mean 9) and 34 (87%) had urodynamic abnormalities, including a hyperactive bladder, bladder sphincter dyssynergia and a hypoactive bladder. RESULTS The cause of the voiding disorder was neurological in 61.5% of the cases, and the 2 most frequent disorders were cerebral toxoplasmosis and HIV encephalitis. Treatment was usually given to relieve symptoms with drugs acting on the detrusor-sphincter complex. A total of 22 patients (57%) had lasting improvement, while 17 (43%) died 2 to 24 months (mean 8) after onset of the voiding symptoms. CONCLUSIONS A micturition problem is an unfavorable event since it usually indicates a neurological cause.

Advances in the assessment of clinically localized prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVE We review the advances in pathology, biology, and radiology which could improve the detection of extracapsular prostate cancer preoperatively. METHOD The experiences of others are compared to ours to give a topical overview of advances in the assessment of clinically localized prostate cancer. RESULTS Despite new technologies, such as colour Doppler and endorectal magnetic resonance imaging, radiology does not enhance the ability to detect small invasion through the prostatic capsule. Biopsy features are one of the new fields of investigation. The number of positive sextant biopsies and the analysis of periprostatic spaces on biopsies appear to be major prognosis factors. In our experience, capsular perforation on biopsy is very powerful with respect to the proportion of positive biopsies ( > 66.7%) and serum PSA ( > 25 ng/ml, polyclonal assay) to predict biological progression after radical prostatectomy. The utility of the proportion of invaded tissue on biopsy is still debated. CONCLUSIONS Despite technical improvements, the staging of clinically confined prostate cancer is still a major issue. The best hope comes from the study of biopsy features in addition to PSA.