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This Urology Times supplement was produced by Advanstar Medical Education Services under an unrestricted grant from Laserscope www.laserscope.com. The views and opinions in this supplement are those of the interviewed physicians and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors, Advanstar Medical Education Services or Laserscope.Copyright 2002 Advanstar Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

Group presses for $420 million at NIH and $100 million at Defense Departmentin 2003Washington - The case for bolstering funding for prostate cancerresearch is being pressed on Capitol Hill by a 6-year-old coalition of organizationsand individuals who are determined to end the disease that has accountedfor 15% of all male cancer deaths over the last decade.

Without a dedicated phone line, a cable modem provides continuous accessMost physicians are connected to the Internet now, but the vast majoritystill use telephone modems. Those of us who have a cable modem-connectedto cable TV-would never go back to using a telephone modem. This articlewill explain why.

Bethesda, MD-Treatment with an intravesical formulation of gemcitabine(Gemzar) in patients with transitional cell carcinoma shows promise, accordingto results from a phase I trial. The findings were presented at the Societyof Urologic Oncology/National Cancer Institute second annual meeting here.

Birmingham, United Kingdom-Researchers in the United Kingdom haveuncovered an "alarming rise" in bladder cancer incidence in womenover the past 25 years, and they believe the finding is not just a resultof increased surveillance.Birmingham, United Kingdom-Researchers in the United Kingdom haveuncovered an "alarming rise" in bladder cancer incidence in womenover the past 25 years, and they believe the finding is not just a resultof increased surveillance.

With reports describing continued improvements in the success rates of hypospadias repair using contemporary one-stage techniques, only a minority of pediatric patients requires secondary urethroplasty to address significant complications. In the adult, the reconstructive urologic surgeon may similarly encounter the patient who requires extensive primary or secondary urethral reconstruction for stricture disease.

Birmingham, United Kingdom-Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is "as efficient" as conventional surgery in terms of pathological and biological results, according to mid-term follow-up of 940 French patients treated consecutively at the same institute-the largest single series of laparoscopic radical prostatectomies to date.

Rochester, MN-When Mayo Clinic researchers recently reported a link between nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and a reduced incidence of prostate cancer, it simply confirmed what many in the field already suspected.

Bethesda, MD-A new study suggests that, even though there is growing evidence that genetic factors impacting hormonal regulation of aggressive prostate cancer are more frequent among African-Americans than other ethnic groups, differences in disease-free survival can be eliminated.

Cleveland-More than one study has shown that urinary incontinence is the most feared complication of radical prostatectomy, and patients have altered their lives to varying degrees following this procedure depending on their level of incontinence.

Ask a medical staff recruiter in San Francisco and one in West Virginia if they're having trouble filling urology positions, and you'll get two very different answers.

Four major concepts must be considered when billing surgical procedures,including accurate coding of the procedure, a precise reason each procedurewas performed (diagnosis), the global concept, and the bundling of procedures.This article will address multiple procedures performed at the same encounter,along with the bundling rules.

New Products as presented in the April 1, 2002 issue of Urology Times

The question of who is and who isn't an "employee" or an "independent contractor" for tax purposes is one that remains unresolved with no relief in sight. Many urology practices prefer to deal with independent contractors because it relieves them of liability to pay the employment taxes that they are liable for with employees.

Vancouver, British Columbia - Clusterin, a stress-related protein, appears to inhibit apoptosis associated with androgen withdrawal and may therefore be an important therapeutic target in men with advanced prostate cancer, say researchers from the University of British Columbia.

San Francisco - Researchers have successfully induced hypospadias in mice, an accomplishment that observers say provides more compelling evidence in support of the endocrine disruptor hypothesis as an explanation for the increase in hypospadias observed over the past 30 years.

Chicago-Three large-scale, international surveillance surveyshave demonstrated that, while antimicrobial resistance in urinary tractpathogens is on the rise, the antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterialisolates from urinary tract infections varies from country to country andfrom region to region. The reports were presented at the 41st InterscienceConference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Chicago-Virulence factors among strains of Escherichia coli thatcause prostatitis are more prevalent than among strains that cause pyelonephritisor cystitis, according to a study by Spanish researchers presented at theannual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapyhere.

San Francisco-A modified Snodgrass hypospadias repair may allbut eliminate the problem of postoperative fistulas, while the originalSnodgrass procedure can be successful for proximal hypospadias reconstruction,according to two studies presented at the 2001 American Academy of PediatricsSection on Urology meeting.

San Francisco-Testis-sparing approaches are appropriate for many prepubertaltestis tumors, according to two decades of data from a tumor registry setup by the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Urology. The registry,established in 1980, has enrolled 395 boys with primary testis tumors thatpresented before 12 years of age.

Q How can I code cysto with double-J stent replacement to receivea higher reimbursement? Medicare states that 52315 is bundled with 52332.I have used ­59 and ­58 and still do not receive reimbursement for52315.

New Products as presented in the March 1, 2002 issue of Urology Times

Bangkok, Thailand - Reports are surfacing on the use of ethanol-based chemoablation in the treatment of symptomatic BPH. At the annual World Congress on Endourology, several studies posted positive results on the safety and efficacy of this technique.

Bangkok, Thailand - High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) may serve as an alternative, second-line treatment for prostate cancer patients who are poor candidates for more common primary treatment modalities

Modified technique can be used to bring the testis to the scrotum in one or two stagesWith the popularization of laparoscopy, the approach to the management of the intra-abdominal testis has undergone a shift in surgical technique.

Bethesda, MD-Mutations in the gene encoding 2-5-oligoadenylate(2-5A)-dependentRNase L (RNASEL) have been found to be associated with prostate cancer inmembers of high-risk families. The recently published research comes frominvestigators from the National Institutes of Health's National Human GenomeResearch Institute and collaborators from industry and several other publicand private institutions.

New York-Some prostate cancer patients may be running to the healthfood store for supplements like PC-SPES, but the supplement cannot competewith other tried and true hormonal therapies, at least in men with androgen-dependentdisease, according to William Oh, MD.

Bangkok, Thailand-Newer, minimally invasive treatment modalitiesfor renal tumors, including cryotherapy, microwave therapy, and radiofrequency(RF) ablation have recently been studied as alternatives to traditionalopen surgery. RF ablation of small renal tumors, albeit in its infancy,is feasible and promising, suggest researchers from Washington UniversitySchool of Medicine in St. Louis and Long Island Jewish Medical Center inNew Hyde Park, NY. Close follow-up is required in these patients to ensurecomplete eradication of the tumor.

Chicago-Physicians appear to be inflating the costs of treating uncomplicatedurinary tract infections in women, and possibly promoting resistance toantibiotics, by ignoring treatment guidelines, a new study suggests.