Do you know what your 'surgeon score' is?
September 1st 2015A new public perspective on quality is emerging. Online rating sites, social media, and analysis of public datasets have begun to shape a larger perspective on quality, including the quality of health care institutions and providers. In this article, I will examine one of the latest examples-the “Surgeon Scorecard.”
Study: BPH procedure’s benefits sustained at 3 years
September 1st 2015The prostatic urethral lift (PUL [UroLift, NeoTract, Inc.]) yields successful 3-year durability and superior rate of improvement of BPH symptoms compared to transurethral resection of the prostate, according to separate studies presented at the AUA annual meeting in New Orleans.
TRT not associated with thrombotic events in older men
September 1st 2015The association between testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and thrombotic risk in elderly men remains controversial. While the FDA has mandated that all approved testosterone products include warnings about a possible increase in cardiovascular, stroke, and venous blood clot risk, at least one study presented at the AUA annual meeting in New Orleans found no link between TRT and cardiovascular events.
Bills provide relief from meaningful use requirements
September 1st 2015Two federal bills, one recently passed by Congress and the other recently introduced in the House of Representatives, seek to address a common area of frustration among physicians: the federal government’s electric health records meaningful use requirements.
Maintenance of certification: Working to understand why
September 1st 2015Given the current controversy, I thought it might be worth learning about the history of the American Board of Urology and maintenance of certification to better understand why the ABU finds it necessary for us to jump through the hoops the board has created.
Men who delay RP show no added risk of adverse pathology
September 1st 2015After accounting for the risk of reclassification, carefully monitored men with favorable-risk prostate cancer who enroll in active surveillance and undergo delayed surgery are no more likely to demonstrate adverse features associated with 15-year prostate cancer-specific mortality than their counterparts who elect immediate curative treatment, say researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Brady Urological Institute, Baltimore.
Targeted Bx shows efficacy in surveillance cohort
September 1st 2015After a median of 2 years in an active surveillance cohort being followed with multiparametric-magnetic resonance imaging and MRI-transrectal ultrasound fusion-guided biopsy (“targeted biopsy”), rates of biopsy-proven pathologic progression are similar among men with low-risk and intermediate-risk disease, say researchers from the National Institutes of Health.
Focal, whole-gland cryo yield similar cancer control
September 1st 2015Among men who are potent and have low-risk prostate cancer, focal cryotherapy appears to deliver similar oncologic control but with much better recovery of erectile function than a whole-gland approach, according to an analysis using data from the Cryo On-Line Data Registry.
Prostate Ca radiation therapy cost drivers analyzed
August 24th 2015The cost of radiation therapy for prostate cancer in the United States varies substantially, and most of the variation is accounted for by factors that are not related to the patient or tumor, according to the results of a study published online in Journal of Oncology Practice (Aug. 11, 2015).
TRT, blood clot risk evaluated in large analysis
August 6th 2015Middle-aged and older men undergoing testosterone replacement therapy aren’t at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), the results of a large comparative case-control analysis published online in Mayo Clinic Proceedings (July 15, 2015) suggest.