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Background and Objectives: Radical prostatectomy is a standard treatment for prostate cancer, yet about 30% of patients experience rising biochemical markers within a decade post-surgery. Pelvic lymph node sampling during prostatectomy assesses potential lymph node metastases, but standard histological assessments, which typically examine only 2-3 tissue sections, often miss occult metastases. This study assesses the effectiveness of qPCR in detecting PSA coding KLK3 mRNA for identifying lymph node metastases post-prostatectomy and explores the correlation between PSA-mRNA and biochemical recurrence., Methods: A cohort of 157 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy with lymphadenectomy were examine. On average, 24.7 lymph nodes were removed per patient. Among them, 108 patients reached PSA value below 0.1 ng/ml without receiving additional therapy, and 106 were followed up over a duration of 5.4 years. This subgroup is of particular interest because it allows for the investigation of the correlation between the occurrence of PSA-mRNA in lymph nodes and later biochemical recurrence. Key findings and limitations qPCR of PSA-mRNA identified 47 out of 108 positive cases (43.5%), while histopathological examination only detected 16 out of 108 cases (14.8%). From the followed-up subgroup 37 out of 106 patients (34.9%) experienced biochemical recurrence. It is noteworthy that qPCR yields more positive findings, regardless of the presence of biochemical recurrence., Conclusion and Clinical Implications: The study findings illustrate that qPCR consistently outperforms conventional histology in detecting lymph node metastases, regardless of biochemical recurrence. The hypothesis that qPCR is better at predicting later biochemical recurrence than conventional histology has not been confirmed., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Background: Radiation-induced cataracts represent a relevant risk to people occupationally exposed to radiation. The annual limit dose for the eye lens was reduced to 20 mSv per year by German legislation (radiation protect law StrlSchG 2017; 2013/59/Euratom) based on recommendation of International Commission on Radiation Protection (2011 ICRP) to avoid radiation-induced cataracts., Objectives: Is there a risk of exceeding the annual limit dose for the eye lens in routine urological practice without special radiation protection for the head?, Methods: As part of a prospective, monocentric dosimetry study, of 542 different urological, fluoroscopically guided interventions, the eye lens dose was determined using a forehead dosimeter (thermo-luminescence dosemeter TLD, Chipstrate) over a period of 5 months., Results: An average head dose of 0.05 mSv per intervention (max. 0.29 mSv) was found with an average dose area product of 485.33 Gy/cm 2 . Significant influencing factors for a higher dose were a higher patient body mass index (BMI), a longer operation time, and a higher dose area product. The level of experience of the surgeon showed no significant influence., Discussion: With 400 procedures per year or an average of 2 procedures per working day, the critical annual limit value for the eye lenses or for the risk of radiation-induced cataract would be exceeded without special protective measures., Conclusion: Consistently effective radiation protection of the eye lens is essential for daily work in uroradiological interventions. This may require further technical developments., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objective: To assess the potential for molecular staging in biopsies of the prostatic fossa after radical prostatectomy (RP) by searching for occult tumour cells through analysis of glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) methylation status., Patients and Methods: We analysed 2446 biopsies: 2286 biopsies from a group of 254 patients with clinically organ-confined prostate cancer who underwent RP and 160 biopsies from a control group of 32 patients. After prostate gland excision, biopsies were obtained from defined areas of the prostatic fossa and bisected for histopathological and molecular genetics analyses. Results were related to clinicopathological data including tumour stage, lymph node status, resection status, tumour grading, initial PSA level, and biochemical recurrence., Results: In total, 34 patients (13.4%) had at least one core positive for the GSTP1 promoter hypermethylation, six of whom (17.6%) were characterised as having a clinically localised tumour stage (pT2, pN0) and 28 (82.4%) as an advanced tumour stage (≥pT3 and/or pN1). GSTP1 promoter hypermethylation significantly correlated with tumour stage (P < 0.001), International Society of Urological Pathology grading (P = 0.001), lymph node status (P < 0.001), surgical margin status (P < 0.001), and biochemical recurrence (P = 0.001). Furthermore, in 46 patients (18.1%) further analysis led to a down- or upgrading of conventional surgical margin status. Classical R-status (margins of the specimen) is significantly superior to histological sampling from the fossa (P = 0.006) but not to GSTP1 analysis from the fossa (P = 0.227)., Conclusion: For the detection of residual tumour in the fossa after RP in order to better predict recurrence, molecular GSTP1 promoter hypermethylation has some value; however, the classical R-status (margins of the specimen) is simpler and more widely applicable with similar results., (© 2021 The Authors. BJU International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of BJU International.)

One of the most applied imaging methods in medicine is endoscopy. A highly specialized image modality has been developed since the first modern endoscope, the "Lichtleiter" of Bozzini was introduced in the early 19th century. Multiple medical disciplines use endoscopy for diagnostics or to visualize and support therapeutic procedures. Therefore, the shapes, functionalities, handling concepts, and the integrated and surrounding technology of endoscopic systems were adapted to meet these dedicated medical application requirements. This survey gives an overview of modern endoscopic technology's state of the art. Therefore, the portfolio of several manufacturers with commercially available products on the market was screened and summarized. Additionally, some trends for upcoming developments were collected.