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Interactive CD-ROM provides model for LHRH therapy, Intermittent catheter offers safety, comfort, Recorder, e-transcription software speed productivity

Washington--Legislation backed by AUA to abolish the controversial Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula in the Medicare fee schedule also contains provisions designed to implement a payment system based on "pay for performance," a plan to compensate physicians according to the quality of care they provide.

The front office should never have to go back to the clinical department to get clarification from a doctor or nurse to process a patient at the end of a visit.

New York—Urologists in private practice find balancing time to practice medicine and manage their practice daunting—and they don't expect it to get easier.

The overwhelming majority of employees who leave any practice leave because of the way they are treated.

The CCI edits reflect the way the Medicare computer has been programmed and the way you will be paid when you submit your claim.

Detection rates improve with extended biopsy protocols, but the definition of clinically significant disease remains elusive.

Chicago--A study of cytokines in expressed prostatic secretions (EPS) has identified two potential candidates as diagnostic markers for inflammatory and noninflammatory forms of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS), according to researchers from Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago.

Paris--Most cases of chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) are spontaneous with unknown causes, and more studies are needed on all aspects of the condition, said Anthony Schaeffer, MD, who chaired the Committee on Prostatitis and Chronic Pelvic Pain at the International Consultation on New Developments in Prostate Cancer and Prostate Diseases here.

Paris--Minimally invasive and surgical treatments for BPH are poorly studied and lack standardized techniques, said Jean de la Rosette, MD, of the department of urology, University of Amsterdam. Dr. de la Rosette chaired a committee on these rapidly expanding treatment approaches at the International Consultation on New Developments in Prostate Cancer and Prostate Diseases. Therapies considered by the committee included transurethral microwave thermotherapy, transurethral needle ablation, transurethral resection of the prostate, water-induced thermotherapy, transurethral ethanol ablation of the prostate (TEAP), prosthetic stents, and lasers.

Vancouver, British Columbia--Patients with renal cell carcinoma are twice as likely to be diagnosed with stage 1 disease today as they were in 1985, according to data from the National Cancer Database (NCDB).

Urology education and training are undergoing sweeping changes at the postgraduate level.

Ann Arbor, MI--Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School are developing a new test for prostate cancer, one that takes advantage of the sensitivity of the immune response. If the test achieves only a portion of its promise, it will have a significant impact on false-positive results generated by the current PSA screening test and on the unnecessary biopsies that subsequently follow.

Paris--The term "lower urinary tract symptoms," or LUTS, is controversial because many urologists regard it as a replacement for prostatism, which focuses mainly on voiding dysfunction. But the most bothersome symptoms of LUTS relate to storage, said Christopher Chapple, MD.

Paris--Although there is very little evidence for primary prevention of BPH and LUTS, evidence does exist for tertiary prevention after the condition is established, said Claus G. Roehrborn, MD, who chaired a committee on prevention of BPH outcomes at the International Consultation on New Developments in Prostate Cancer and Prostate Diseases.

Paris--An expert committee charged with examining coming trends in new therapeutic targets and treatments for metastatic prostate cancer painted a positive picture of the future, with chemotherapy, vaccines, and gene therapy all potentially playing a role. But the committee also recognized a milestone advancement of the recent past.

Paris--Taking measures to prevent prostate cancer is a noble, potentially life-saving goal, but the cost of providing a preventive agent may be prohibitive at present. Based on statistical analysis, 500 of every 100,000 U.S. men in the 54- to 65-year age group would need to receive a moderately effective agent for 1 year to prevent just one case of prostate cancer, said Peter Gann, MD, who chaired a committee on prostate cancer prevention at the International Consultation on New Developments in Prostate Cancer and Prostate Diseases.

Paris--Radical prostatectomy remains the gold standard for treating localized prostate cancer, according to William J. Catalona, MD, professor of urology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago. The procedure is not without challengers, however, a number of which are showing promise.

Vancouver, British Columbia--Data from a national database of motor vehicle accidents suggest that the interior design of cars may play an important role in causing the renal injuries suffered by crash victims.

Vancouver, British Columbia--A subset of women with lower urinary tract symptoms—namely, those with AUA symptom scores in the severe range—may benefit from treatment with an alpha-blocker, according to findings from a small, multicenter study. In a general population of women with LUTS, treatment with the alpha-blocker, tamsulosin (Flomax) showed favorable but not statistically significant results compared with placebo.

Vancouver, British Columbia--African-American men may have a greater risk of developing prostate cancer than Caucasian men, but the specific reasons for this difference have not been fully established.

Vancouver, British Columbia--Currently, more than 50 clinical trials are open in the United States for renal cell carcinoma, most of which are early-phase studies. Significantly, a handful of late-phase trials are still open. Some are showing promising results with newer immune-based and vaccine therapies for the treatment of advanced RCC, a disease for which definitive treatments are lacking.

Vancouver, British Columbia--"The PSA test it is not dead yet," said Joseph C. Presti, Jr, MD, at the AUA Western Section annual meeting, where he presented a study of the performance of PSA levels between 4.0 and 10.0 ng/mL in the era of extended biopsy schemes.

Vancouver, British Columbia--A newer 3-month formulation of an LHRH agonist shows efficacy and safety similar to its 1-month counterpart. However, the 3-month version of the drug, triptorelin pamoate (Trelstar LA) provides a more convenient option preferred for maintaining compliance and quality of life in patients with stages C and D prostate cancer, researchers say.

There are many questions and avenues of study yet to be clarified before broad clinical translation can occur.

Reflecting the growth of robotics in modern surgery, the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine will host a 3-day event covering developments in robotic surgery.

Researchers from the University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, have found a potential new target and therapy for disrupting bladder cancer metastasis.

Combination therapy using an investigational small molecule chemopotentiator reduces PSA levels and symptoms in men with hormone-refractory prostate cancer, according to results of a phase II trial.

A living kidney "paired donation" (KPD) appears to be a successful means of efficiently finding more kidney donors who are a match for patients in need, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers in Baltimore.

Deaths from the two most common urologic cancers in men (prostate and bladder) and the most common urologic cancer in women (bladder cancer) have dropped since the 1990s, according to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2002, a collaboration among the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.