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A national transplant policy change to the relative priority assigned to tissue matching in allocating donated kidneys has given African-American patients greater access to the organs, say researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

The FDA has approved updated drug labels for medications containing pioglitazone (Actos), an agent used to treat type 2 diabetes. The new labels are part of an update to the agency?s ongoing safety review of pioglitazone and increased risk of bladder cancer.

When used as a supplement to an elevated PSA reading, a new urine test that detects instances of a specific genetic anomaly and the presence of the PCA3 marker can help men delay or avoid biopsy while identifying patients at the highest risk for clinically significant prostate cancer, the authors of a recently published study report.

Patients who undergo radical nephrectomy experience a significantly higher incidence of osteoporosis and fractures when compared with those who undergo partial nephrectomy, according to a recent study.

A recent international study shows that among Kenyan men, circumcision is associated with a lower prevalence of human papillomavirus-associated precancerous lesions of the penis.

The American Medical Association and 91 state and specialty medical societies, including the AUA, recently submitted formal comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on the proposed changes to the electronic prescribing penalty program.

Cancer cells circulating in the blood carry newly identified proteins that could be screened to improve prognostic tests and suggest targets for therapies, report researchers from the Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC.

Adding hormone therapy to radiation therapy may reduce overall survival in men with pre-existing heart conditions, even if they have high-risk prostate cancer, according to a recent study.

In premenopausal women who have repeated urinary tract infections, the antibiotic trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX [Bactrim, Septra DS]) appears to be more effective than cranberry capsules for preventing recurrent infections, at the risk of contributing to antibiotic resistance, Dutch researchers recently reported.

Lycopene could help prevent prostate cancer, especially in African-American men, according to recently published research from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Hard-to-match kidney transplant candidates who receive a treatment designed to make their bodies more accepting of incompatible organs are twice as likely to survive 8 years after transplant surgery as those who stay on dialysis for years awaiting compatible organs, say researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.

A bipartisan group of senators whose states are home to imaging equipment manufacturers recently wrote President Obama, urging against any cutbacks in Medicare reimbursements for imaging.

Late-stage advanced prostate cancer tumors appear to be driven by a different hormonal pathway than was previously thought, and now, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, have narrowed potential drug targets.

A recent "Hands On" article in Urology Times ("Post-prostate biopsy infection: Incidence and preventive steps," July 2011, pages 40-41) included a Figure that contained an error.

While very few legislatures remain in session after July 1, from late summer into early fall and beyond, so-called interim committees meet with regularity to establish much of the agenda that will be considered the next year.

Five-year follow-up of older patients with renal tumors less than 3 cm shows that minimally invasive surgery with tumor enucleation yields less tumor progression than either percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (PRA) or active surveillance.

he coverage, and subsequent payment, for your PSA test is determined by the contractual agreement with your insurance company. Some insurance companies pay and others do not for procedures and other services with different diagnoses.

E&M documentation has been a major problem for many of us since the beginning of the documentation guidelines in 1995.

An international study analyzing data from almost 30,000 men treated with radical prostatectomy as monotherapy for high-risk prostate cancer provides some evidence that short- to medium-term oncologic outcomes are better for men who undergo robot-assisted laparoscopic RP (RALP) compared with open RP (ORP) and laparoscopic RP (LRP).

A reweighed Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) based on prostate cancer-specific data and long-term follow-up predicts long-term, other-cause mortality in prostate cancer patients better than the original CCI.

Targeted antimicrobial prophylaxis based on microbiologic findings from rectal swab cultures significantly reduces the incidence of post-transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUSP) infectious complications and has the potential to decrease the overall cost of care.

Analyses of oncologic outcomes from men enrolled in a large, prospective, multicenter database support consideration of radical prostatectomy in the management of locally advanced prostate cancer.

Results of a retrospective study documenting a significant risk of fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli infections after transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUSP) prompted a change in the antibiotic prophylaxis protocol for men undergoing this diagnostic procedure at one large institution.

Axitinib, an investigational selective inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptors 1, 2, and 3, significantly extended progression-free survival (PFS) compared with sorafenib (Nexavar) in patients with previously treated metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

Surgical treatment for small renal masses may be cautiously delayed in select patients with significant competing risks for mortality.

Certain anatomic features identified on preoperative magnetic resonance imaging independently predict continence recovery after radical prostatectomy but seem to add minimal prognostic value above use of standard preoperative variables.

In a busy urology practice, there are numerous bottlenecks that threaten the ability to effectively manage the day.

Use of the investigational tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) cabozantinib led to complete or partial resolution of radionuclide tracer uptake by bone scan in three-fourths of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) with bone metastasis in an international phase II randomized discontinuation trial.

Newly elected AUA President Sushil S. Lacy, MD, discusses the challenges and opportunities facing urologists.

The recurrence rate following thermal ablation of renal cortical tumors is 6%. About half of recurrences can be managed successfully with salvage ablative procedures, but 20% require extirpative surgery.