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Purpose: Currently, the most widely used method of treatment of urinary tract stones is extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (SWL). Patient and stone characteristics are important for SWL success. We evaluated noncontrast computed tomography (NCCT) characteristics of urinary tract stones for the prediction of SWL success., Methods: Records of patients who underwent NCCT before SWL treatment between January 2008 and June 2012 were retrospectively evaluated. Demographic data were recruited from patient files. Hounsfield units (HU), stone size and skin-to-stone distance (SSD) were measured on NCCT. After serial measurements of the highest HU value (HUmax) and lowest HU value (HUmin), HU value was calculated as the average of these two values (HUave). These parameters were compared between successful [stone-free (SF) group] and unsuccessful [residual fragment (RF) group] cases after SWL., Results: A total of 254 patients, 113 kidney stones and 141 ureteral stones, were evaluated. Mean age was 51.0±14.6 (18-87) years, and mean stone size was 10.9±3.7 mm. Stone diameter, HUmax, HUmin and HUave were significantly lower in SF group when compared with RF group for both kidney and ureteral stones (p<0.05). We also found that SSD for kidney stones was predictive for SWL success., Conclusions: We suggest that HUmax, HUmin and HUave values are significant predictors of SWL success for both kidney and ureteral stones. They might be used in daily clinical practice for patient counselling.

Objective: The ability of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), free/total PSA and PSA density to predict the pathologic stage in prostate cancer has not been clear yet. In this study, we evaluated the value of PSA subgroups in the prediction of pathologic stage after radical prostatectomy., Methods: A total of 42 subjects 55-78-years-old who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy were included in the study. Preoperative PSA, free/total PSA and PSA density (PSAD) values were compared according to the pathologic stages of radical prostatectomy specimens. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were measured for each parameter., Results: The clinical stage that was estimated for all patients was between T1N0M0 and T2bN0M0. Pathologic examination revealed organ-confined disease in 18 patients. The area under curve (AUC) for organ confinement was 0.553 for PSA, 0.446 for free/total PSA ratio and 0.706 for PSAD. Cut-off values providing the best sensitivity and specificity in ROC analysis for PSA, free/total PSA and PSAD were 7.1, 0.15, and 0.17, respectively (likelihood ratio: 0.9, 1 and 2). The positive predictive values at these cut-off values were 0.54, 0.56, and 0.70, respectively. Only PSAD cut-off values was found statistically borderline significant for predicting organ-confined disease., Conclusion: While PSAD is more helpful than PSA and free/total PSA ratio for prediction of organ-confined disease, none of these parameters are significant predictor of pathologic stage for clinically localized prostate cancer.

We report a rare case of ascites developing in the early post-prostatectomy period due to a mass originating from the head of the pancreas. Comorbid diseases that are not documented preoperatively may emerge with signs mimicking the complication of prostate surgery.

Forty-four patients with impotence were evaluated by intracavernous papaverine injection, penile brachial index (PBI) determination and dynamic cavernosography. The correlation between these diagnostic procedures and their diagnostic value were investigated. It was concluded that the papaverine test is an efficient diagnostic procedure and can be used as the first step for the routine work-up of impotent patients.