Voiding Dysfunction

Nocturia appears to be highly prevalent in the United States, with almost 30% of all women reporting significant nocturia, according to new data reported at the AUA annual meeting in San Francisco.

 Waking up at night to urinate is by far the most bothersome lower urinary tract symptom. 

"When analyzing efficacy of minimally invasive/surgical therapies for lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to BPH, we appropriately focus on subjective criteria and objective criteria. While we discuss retreatment rates, we don’t measure failure of therapies by how many men restart LUTS/BPH medications," writes Steven A. Kaplan, MD.

Tissue-eliminating procedures outperform tissue-necrosing procedures for reducing the need for medication in patients with benign prostatic enlargement, researchers say.

The therapeutic efficacy of sacral neuromodulation was not affected by non-head magnetic resonance imaging scans in a recent study.

Over half of patients stop intradetrusor botulinum toxin injections within 10 years, mostly due to lack of clinical efficacy, researchers say.

Results of the prospective MedLift study establish the efficacy and safety of the Prostatic Urethral Lift (PUL [UroLift System]) procedure for treatment of symptomatic BPH in men with an enlarged median lobe.

Performing green laser enucleation of the prostate with a live audience does not result in more complications, researchers say.

Men with large prostates experience more relief from BPH with treatment by Aquablation therapy (using the AquaBeam System) than with transurethral resection of the prostate, researchers say.

Studies show moderate alcohol intake has surprising links to prostate disease.

The AUA 2018 take-home messages in outcomes also covered topics such as environmental exposures and bladder cancer and onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) treatment for patients with overactive bladder.

This article discusses the risk of depression and suicide in men, focusing on increased risk in men with genitourinary cancer and other urologic conditions.

Findings from a cost-effectiveness analysis provide useful information for physicians, patients, and payers about available treatments for lower urinary tract symptoms due to BPH, according to the authors who conducted it.

These videos illustrate a robotic solution to the complex problem of very large prostate glands causing severe lower urinary tract symptoms.

A new study suggests that metallic Resonance ureteral stents are a good option for management of malignant ureteral obstruction because they promote strong long-term outcomes.

In another potential sign of racial disparities in urologic care, a new study finds that urologic restoration surgery is significantly less likely to be used to treat African-American men with stress urinary incontinence than Caucasian men, although African-Americans appear to have higher rates of SUI.

Other products highlighted in this round-up include a plate for studying infections caused by the long-term use of catheters and a new indication for sunitinib malate (SUTENT).

Although monopolar transurethral resection of the prostate remains the standard of care for bladder outlet obstruction secondary to BPH, its utilization has decreased in recent years, according to a recent study.

Reconstruction of anterior compartment defects using magnetic resonance-visible vaginal mesh implants in combination with post-surgical three-dimensional imaging is feasible and yields reproducible results, researchers report.

Delay to urethroplasty for bulbar urethral strictures is associated with repetitive interventions, stricture lengthening, and more complex repairs that have a greater risk for failure, while scheduling-related delay to reconstruction exposes men to risk for stricture-related complications, according to separate studies presented at the AUA annual meeting in Boston.

Other pipeline products discussed in this round-up include and advanced renal cell carcinoma agent, a bladder cancer detection agent, and a BPH treatment.

About one-fourth of patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome have Hunner lesions in the bladder visible on cystoscopy.

Repeated hydrodistention as therapy for interstitial cystitis has a low complication rate and does not decrease bladder capacity over time.

The correlation between patient-reported bother and symptom severity is inexact, according to conclusions of a recent retrospective multicenter study of nearly 1,200 patients referred for lower urinary tract symptoms.

Results of one of the first randomized controlled trials evaluating cell therapy for women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) has helped to identify clinically meaningful efficacy endpoints to refine patient selection criteria for current and future studies, according to investigator Melissa R. Kaufman, MD, PhD.

Other products and services discussed in this round-up include a biosimilar for cancer, an American College of Surgeons manual on quality initiatives, a kidney cancer microsite, and more.

Heat-free high-velocity waterjet ablation (Aquablation) for BPH performed with an image-guided robot-assisted platform (AquaBeam System) met its primary safety and efficacy endpoints in a phase III study.

Treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms/BPH with convective water vapor ablation (Rezum System) appears to provide significant improvement on two key outcome measures versus medical therapy at up to 2 years, according to a study presented at the AUA annual meeting in Boston.

The risk of erectile dysfunction is not increased with the use of a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor compared with an alpha-blocker for the treatment of BPH.