Yi-Chun Chiu

Effectiveness of stress management in patients undergoing transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy of the prostate.

Background To assess the utilization of stress management in relieving anxiety and pain among patients who undergo transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy of the prostate. Methods Eighty-two patients admitted to a community hospital for a TRUS biopsy of the prostate participated in this case-controlled study. They were divided into an experimental group that was provided with stress management and a control group that received only routine nursing care. Stress management included music therapy and one-on-one simulation education. Before and after the TRUS biopsy, the patients’ state-anxiety inventory score, pain visual analogue scale (VAS), respiratory rate, heart rate, and blood pressure were obtained. Results There were no differences in baseline and disease characteristics between the two groups. The VAS in both groups increased after the TRUS biopsy, but the difference in pre- and postbiopsy VAS scores was significantly lower in the experimental group (P=0.03). Patients in both groups experienced mild anxiety before and after the biopsy, but those in the experimental group displayed a significantly greater decrease in postbiopsy state-anxiety inventory score compared to the control group (P=0.02). Conclusion Stress management can alleviate anxiety and pain in patients who received a TRUS biopsy of the prostate under local anesthesia.

Varicocele is associated with varicose veins: A population‐based case–control study

To analyze the association between patients with varicocele and varicose veins in Taiwan.

Quantitative analysis of urinary stone composition with micro-Raman spectroscopy

Urolithiasis is a common, disturbing disease with high recurrent rate (60% in five years). Accurate identification of urinary stone composition is important for treatment and prevention purpose. Our previous studies have demonstrated that micro-Raman spectroscopy (MRS)-based approach successfully detects the composition of tiny stone powders after minimal invasive urological surgery. But quantitative analysis of urinary stones was not established yet. In this study, human urinary stone mixed with two compositions of COM, HAP, COD, and uric acid, were analyzed quantitatively by using a 632.98 nm Raman spectrometric system. This quantitative analysis was based on the construction of calibration curves of known mixtures of synthetically prepared pure COM, HAP, COD and uric acid. First, the various concentration (mole fraction) ratio of binary mixtures including COM and HAP, COM and COD, or COM and uric acid, were produced. Second, the intensities of the characteristic bands at 1462cm -1(IRCOM), 1477cm-1(IRCOD), 961cm-1(IRHAP) and 1402cm-1(IRuric acid), for COD, COM, HAP and uric acid were used respectively for intensity calculation. Various binary mixtures of known concentration ratio were recorded as the basis for the quantitative analysis. The ratios of the relative intensities of the Raman bands corresponding to binary mixtures of known composition on the inverse of the COM concentration yielded a linear dependence. Third, urinary stone fragments collected from patients after management were analyzed with the use of the calibration curve and the quantitative analysis of unknown samples was made by the interpolation analysis. We successfully developed a MRS-based quantitative analytical method for measuring two composition.

Detecting composition of urolithiasis by Raman spectroscopy after minimal invasive urological management

Urolithiasis is a common, disturbing disease with high recurrent rate (60% in five years). Accurate diagnosis of urinary stone composition is important in preventing stone recurrence. With the improvement in minimal invasive urological surgery, such as ureteroscopic lithotripsy, and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, stone management becomes not so suffering and effective than before. However, the new problem arises in that less and less stone fragments could be collected because of tiny expelled stone powder after MIUS. The goal of this study is to use Raman spectroscopy (RS) to analyze small stone fragments collected from urine of patients with urolithiasis after MIUS. First, data from five main urinary stones [Calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM), Dicalcium phosphate dehydrate(DCPD), Calcium phosphate hydroxide(hydroxyl apatite, or HAP), Calcium oxalate dehydrate(COD), and uric acid] were established in RS database. Second, we used RS and clinical Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to analyze stone fragments collected from patients with urolithiasis. Seventeen patients were enrolled in the study and all had comparable results between RS detection and clinical analysis by FTIR. RS approach has successfully detected tiny stone powders with or without fluorescence photobleaching. We successfully measured COM, DCPD, HAP, COD, and uric acid stones. This study demonstrated the feasibility of using RS for conducting the clinical stone analysis from the tiny urinary stone sample. It provided satisfying results and could be applied on clinical practice.