All News

Evidence shows HIFU can provide cancer control outcomes comparable to those associated with radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy in properly selected patients.

Recommending either whole-gland or focal HIFU cannot be justified when their pros and cons are judged relative to the appropriate comparator.

Based on recent developments with blue light cystoscopy, the use of white light cystoscopy alone is now considered suboptimal as a diagnostic tool.

More evidence is needed before blue light cystoscopy becomes the standard of care for diagnosis and treatment and renders white light cystoscopy obsolete.

Biopsy decreases overall uncertainty, is safe, fairly accurate, relatively inexpensive, and improves shared decision-making with patients.

The oral beta-3 agonist vibegron, taken once daily at either 50 mg or 100 mg, is well tolerated and results in clinically and statistically significant reductions in daily micturitions, urge incontinence, and urgency episodes.

Renal mass biopsy provides actionable information, but only under specific circumstances-yet it is an increasingly necessary part of the nuanced patient discussion.

A minority of patients are involved in shared decision-making about prostate cancer screening with PSA, but new strategies to incorporate shared decision-making into practice are being investigated.

"One thing I would like to see some guidance on is what to do about patients who use marijuana recreationally," says one urologist.

"The primary advantage of using an ABLE account is that the savings largely do not affect an individual’s eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)," write Jeff Witz, CFP, and David Zemon.

In this article, we review the underlying causes of nocturia and outline an approach to its diagnostic evaluation and treatment.

Urologists can claim substantial victories as a result of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, signed into law by President Trump in February-including an end to the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which had been established by the Affordable Care Act to help control Medicare spending.

A 25-year-old male presents with 4 weeks of intermittent right flank pain occasionally radiating to the testicle. CT shows a 7-cm partially necrotic retroperitoneal mass at the level of the right renal vein and a 2-cm lesion overlaying the right psoas muscle.

Imaging reveals a mass at the anterior bladder dome with inflammation extending to the perivesical fat. No pelvic lymphadenopathy or sites of metastatic disease are found.

"In recent years, lawmakers in several states considered legislation to conform their laws and exceptions to those outlined in the Stark law," writes the AACU's Ross E. Weber.

This article examines current developments in robotic urologic surgery and future directions, including the introduction of alternative surgical robots.

James Lifton, MBA, a public (non-physician) director of the American Board of Medical Specialties, shares his observations from the recent American Board of Urology Examination Committee meeting.

A new study suggests that metallic Resonance ureteral stents are a good option for management of malignant ureteral obstruction because they promote strong long-term outcomes.

An elderly male with hypertension, lumbar spinal stenosis, morbid obesity, and ED presents with acute right-sided worsening of his chronic back pain. A distal right ureteral stone is found on CT and his symptoms respond well to medical therapy, but he later develops severe right flank pain.

In this "Coding Q&A" column, Ray Painter, MD, and Mark Painter also answer questions regarding bladder instillations and penile modeling during IPP placement.

"Given the costs of defense and the challenge to defend lawsuits involving [retained surgical items], preventing them from occurring at all is the best solution," writes Brianne Goodwin, JD, RN.

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery, or ERAS, is radically changing and standardizing preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative approaches to major surgeries, including radical cystectomy. And while the changes can seem troublesome at first, urologic surgeons who perform radical cystectomy say letting go of dogma is worth it for patients, physicians, and staff.

If the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has its way with Congress, urologists and other Medicare providers will be subjected to a new payment system, replacing the Merit-based Incentive Payment System that was established when the sustainable growth rate formula was ditched in 2015.

An emergency fund is an important part of any financial plan and can be the difference between comfortably surviving an unexpected event and financial distress.

"As much as racial and ethnic disparities exist broadly across health care in the United States, it is not surprising to observe this phenomenon in the urologic arena," writes Arthur L. Burnett, II, MD, MBA.

In another potential sign of racial disparities in urologic care, a new study finds that urologic restoration surgery is significantly less likely to be used to treat African-American men with stress urinary incontinence than Caucasian men, although African-Americans appear to have higher rates of SUI.

"If you embrace change with curiosity, you’re going to stay ahead of the times," says one urologist.

An immunotherapy combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) extended overall survival compared with sunitinib (SUTENT) as first-line treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Findings of a retrospective study confirm that unplanned encounters are common after ureteroscopy.

A recent study "revealed that inadequate pain control, presence of a ureteral stent, and a first-time stone treatment were the most common reasons for unplanned utilization of health care services [following ureteroscopy]," writes Brian R. Matlaga, MD, MPH.