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In an effort to combat the current health care workforce shortage, a group of influential leaders has joined together to create the Council on Physician and Nurse Supply.

A trimodality treatment regimen results in excellent local control that alters patterns of failure in patients with high-risk prostate cancer, according to a study published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology & Physics (2006; 66:389-94).

Prostate cancer patients receiving high-dose, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) remained disease-free after an 8-year follow-up in a study conducted by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

Focal cryoablation appears to effectively destroy cancerous prostate tumors while preserving a patient?s potency and continence, suggests a study published recently in the Journal of Endourology (2006; 20:688-92).

African-American patients with bladder cancer are 35% more likely to die of the disease than Caucasian patients are, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor.

If your turnover on a rolling 3-year average reaches 20%, you will need to explore how you contribute to this.

New York-Radical prostatectomy may be considered as a safe and effective management option for prostate cancer in appropriately selected HIV-positive men, according to the experience of urologic surgeons at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

New York-Radical prostatectomy may be considered as a safe and effective management option for prostate cancer in appropriately selected HIV-positive men, according to the experience of urologic surgeons at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

Washington-On Aug. 8, 2006, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposal to reform the Medicare ambulatory surgical center payment system beginning Jan. 1, 2008, and the news for urology appears to be mixed.

Prostate tumor location device is approved for use

There isn't a urologist who hasn't experienced the following scenario: The doctor stands up to terminate the visit with the patient, asks the patient if there is anything else they would like to discuss, and the patient says no. The doctor closes the chart, puts his hand on the doorknob to leave the room, and the patient says, "There is one more thing I'd like to talk to you about."

If your turnover on a rolling 3-year average reaches 20%, you will need to explore how you contribute to this.

If the conversion factor cut stands, urologists' Medicare income will decrease overall by about 5%.

Although needle biopsies are being used for localization, the majority of prostate cancers are multifocal in nature and invisible on gray scale ultrasonography.

Atlanta-Operating room-based procedures continue to make up a significant proportion of urologists' practice, despite a predominance of office-based clinical practice, data from the American Board of Urology indicate.

Washington-Members of the Coalition for the Advancement of Prosthetic Urology (CAPU) spent several days during the last week of September pounding the halls on Capitol Hill, lobbying Congress to improve payment for prosthetic urology procedures and seeking comprehensive insurance coverage for prosthetic urologic procedures. Now they wait to see what their efforts may have won.

Atlanta-Despite media images depicting middle-aged and older men embracing the use of phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitors to correct erectile dysfunction, actual interest and usage in this population has not been well studied.

Atlanta-Two studies presented here at the AUA annual meeting suggest that new treatments could be on the horizon for the treatment of elderly patients with renal cancer and comorbid conditions. The studies are small, follow-up was relatively short, and both investigators stated emphatically that the oncologic safety of these treatments must be studied further.

Atlanta-Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) for solitary and multiple renal tumors led to a small but statistically significant decrease in postoperative renal function, but the clinical significance of the finding remains unclear, according to a retrospective review of a patient series at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD.

Ann Arbor, MI-Surgeon age is not a significant predictor of risk of mortality after cystectomy, according to the results of a recently published study from researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Ann Surg 2006; 244:353-62).

Atlanta-Delays of fewer than 25 days and more than 84 days from the time a general practitioner referral assigns a patient to cystectomy show a statistically significant, positive relationship to increased patient mortality. Results from a population-based study of the relationship between delayed treatment and mortality were presented at the AUA annual meeting here.

Atlanta-Neoadjuvant chemotherapy using a three-drug combination has demonstrated activity in locally advanced transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder, but it also possesses considerable toxicity. That was the conclusion reported in a poster by University of Michigan researchers at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.

Atlanta-Men whose infertility is due to varicocele may be able to improve the likelihood of achieving impregnation by undergoing bilateral, rather than unilateral varicocelectomy, when indicated. This was the conclusion of the authors of a Canadian study presented here at the AUA annual meeting.

Atlanta-Two separate studies have found that men and women dealing with infertility suffer from depression and anxiety at a greater rate than the general population.

Atlanta-If you're going to perform a vasectomy reversal, use a microscope. Despite the additional time and cost involved, microsurgical vasovasostomy is superior to the loupe-assisted macroscopic technique, findings from a recent study from Korea confirm.

Los Angeles-A study evaluating secondary care for men with prostate cancer provides useful information for patient counseling, but also underlines the existence of significant regional variations in treatment patterns, and so speaks to the need for a better evidence base on which to develop guidelines for high-quality care, said UCLA researchers.

Ann Arbor, MI-Evidence-based expectant management of men with lower-risk prostate cancer does not seem to be catching on among physicians and their patients. A new study suggests that, among men who are appropriate candidates for the wait-and-see approach, physicians are treating more than half with surgery or radiation therapy.

Atlanta-Patients who undergo radical prostatectomy for clinical stage T4 prostate cancer have a higher survival rate than do patients who receive radiation or hormone therapies alone, and surgical prostate cancer patients' survival is comparable to that of patients who receive both hormone and radiation therapies.

Orlando, FL-In the throes of the PSA era, with stage migration and improved therapies, the impact of family history on prostate cancer prognosis has become minimal, according to a new study.

Atlanta-Minimally invasive slings can work in women with stress urinary incontinence, even after a sling has failed. A key to success may be a higher presurgical Valsalva leak-point pressure.