Medicare cuts could devastate access to cancer care
August 15th 2012The impact of the proposed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services payment cuts to radiation oncology could severely impact community-based cancer care across the country, according to a recent survey from the American Society for Radiation Oncology.
Study: CT, MRI use dropped after 2005
August 8th 2012The increase in the use of magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography for patients in the U.S. slowed to between 1% and 3% per year between 2006 and 2009, ending a decade of growth that had exceeded 6% annually, according to a study published online in Health Affairs (July 25, 2012).
Organized urology reiterates Independent Payment Advisory Board concerns
August 1st 2012For urologists who strongly oppose key provisions of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (ACA), upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in late June, the best hope for change may lie in the ballot box rather than in the halls of Congress.
Peptidergic bladder afferent nerves implicated in interstitial cystitis pain
August 1st 2012Neurotrophic factors that appear in interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) patients' urine and disappear with onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) treatment point to peptidergic primary bladder afferent nerves as the root of patients' pain and other symptoms.
Older kidney stone patients more likely to have concurrent urinary tract infection
August 1st 2012Both the clinical presentation and management of incident kidney stone disease appear to vary by age such that older individuals are more likely than their younger counterparts to present with a concurrent urinary tract infection (UTI), have no or atypical pain, and require surgical intervention.
Pelvic floor hypertonicity observed in interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome patients
August 1st 2012For years, some urologists and physical therapists have been saying that the pelvic floor is contracted and shortened because of hypertonicity in patients with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS), contributing to their misery. Now, using magnetic resonance imaging measurements, researchers have some physical confirmation that these patients do indeed have a contracted pelvic floor.
Prostate cancer survival significantly improved with novel radiation agent
August 1st 2012Interim data from a phase III trial of a novel radiation agent in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) showed the agent's efficacy to be significantly sufficient to bring the trial to a halt at a planned interim analysis so as to be able offer the agent to men in the placebo arm.
Progress on interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome: Slow but steady
August 1st 2012Articles in this issue of Urology Times highlight two of the more interesting abstracts on interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) presented at the 2012 AUA annual meeting in Atlanta. They illustrate the relentless progress being made in the efforts to improve the lives of patients with this difficult-to-treat syndrome.
What is cloud computing, and how can it help your urology practice?
August 1st 2012Storing data remotely allows for access from anywhere using the Internet, so, for example, a cloud-based EMR allows urologists in your practice to access and update charts from home or on the road using a smartphone or tablet.
Botulinum, hydrodistention efficacy found similar in interstitial cystitis
August 1st 2012A study on onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) injection into the trigone in Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome patients threw some doubt on whether Hunner's lesions themselves are the major pain generators, even though the study was not designed for that purpose.
Stone risk unaffected by calcium/oxalate imbalance
August 1st 2012Imbalances in meal content of calcium and oxalate throughout the day appear to have no impact on calcium oxalate stone risk in persons with high oxalate intake, at least in healthy non-stone-forming adults who maintain a normal daily calcium intake.
Laparoendoscopic single-site surgery in urologic patients: What does the future hold?
August 1st 2012In this article, we briefly review the literature suggesting LESS is safe and holds a potential advantage over conventional laparoscopy. We then describe our techniques and outcomes for performing an extirpative (nephrectomy) and reconstructive (pyeloplasty) LESS procedure.