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Background As children are exposed to stress and anxiety during the perioperative period, pre-anaesthetic medication to facilitate induction of anaesthesia without prolonging recovery is needed. Dexmedetomidine is increasingly being used for sedation in the intensive care units and for procedural anaesthesia outside the operating room. However, the effectiveness of pre-operative sedation with intranasal dexmedetomidine in paediatric patients undergoing ambulatory surgery has not yet been well characterised. Aims To identify the effectiveness of intranasal dexmedetomidine in facilitating mask induction and preventing emergence agitation. Methods In a single centre retrospective implementation study, we compared intranasal dexmedetomidine (2 µg/kg) administration, sequentially in all paediatric patients undergoing minor urological surgery between January 2019 and July 2019 with a period in which dexmedetomidine was not administered. The outcome measures were tolerance of mask induction, post-operative sedation and the Paediatric Anaesthesia Emergence Delirium scale (PAED) score. Results The 53 children in the control group were compared with 50 children in the dexmedetomidine group during implementation. The incidence of sedation on mask induction was greater in patients given dexmedetomidine compared to those who did not receive premedication (60% versus 0%, pConclusion In paediatric patients undergoing small urologic surgery, premedication with intranasal dexmedetomidine in a dose of 2µg/kg provides adequate sedation and anxiolysis on mask induction and in the postoperative period. These results from an implementation study need to be confirmed in a multicentre blinded randomised controlled trial.

Fungal colonization or infection of the urinary tract system is relatively common in patients with diabetes or a compromised immune system. However, fungal intravesical bezoars are extremely rare. We present a unique case with multiple, gas-holding fungals bezoars and emphysematous cystitis caused by Candida tropicalis.

Disseminated carcinoma of the prostate (CaP) is a common manifestation of this disease. Metastatic CaP in the United States is seen in about 45,000 patients each year at diagnosis. At least the same number of patients who have had prior definitive treatment with surgery or radiotherapy develop evidence of metastatic disease. Hormonal management is the most important and well established treatment for patients with prostatic metastases. Orchiectomy remains the most efficient and most cost effective therapy in a rapid ablation of testicular androgens. Due to a well known psychological reaction to castration which is seen in many patients, diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a good alternative and cost effective therapy. The mode of action of DES is to suppress LH production and to slowly, indirectly, decrease serum testosterone level. In recent years, total androgen blockade (TAB) has become a widely accepted treatment option. This treatment has been shown in several clinical trials to be effective and well tolerated by the patients. A major problem with a routine use of TAB is a relatively high cost of this therapy. In a European prospective randomized trial, goserelin acetate-flutamide combination significantly increased time to progression when compared with orchiectomy alone. Patients with localized and symptomatic metastases are best treated with radiotherapy. Those with multiple sites of involvement are best treated with strontium-89 which results in a good palliation in a majority of patients. Nearly all hormonally treated patients, with metastatic CaP, eventually show tumor progression. Presently available chemotherapy is of a low effectiveness and should not be used for these patients outside of controlled clinical trials. Current research is directed to identify effective therapy for hormone refractory patients. Immunotherapy and gene therapy may be useful future therapeutic options.

The objective of this paper is to discuss the role of open partial nephrectomy (OPN) for complex renal tumours and large renal tumours4 cm in the minimally invasive era. The current status of OPN, laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) and robotic PN are reviewed. The literature search is done using the National Library of Medicine database (PubMed). The indication of OPN has been extended to T1b tumours (4-7 cm). PN and radical nephrectomy (RN) provide equivalent oncological outcomes for these tumours. In addition, there is a growing application of OPN for complex tumours (centrally located, hilar, multifocal). Despite the more challenging cohort of patients, there is no increase in the overall morbidity of OPN. In contemporary cohorts there is an increase in overweight patients and a higher incidence of central tumours treated with OPN. LPN has been extended to select patients with larger renal masses (4-7 cm) and centrally located tumours. LPN for tumours4 cm was in the early phase associated with increased complication rate and prolonged warm ischemia time (WIT). Complication rates decreased with improvement of surgical technique and expertise. Early experience with robotic PN is promising and perioperative outcomes are at least comparable to LPN. LPN and robotic PN have to compete with the functional and oncological results of OPN. In the era of nephron-sparing surgery (NSS), OPN remains the established standard for the management of T1 renal tumours in centres without advanced laparoscopic expertise. Complex scenarios with centrally located tumours, tumours in a solitary kidney, and multifocal lesions probably are best managed with OPN. LPN is feasible in numerous clinical scenarios in centres with advanced laparoscopic expertise but remains a challenging operation. Long-term studies are needed to further define the role of the robotic approach for PN.

The aim of this study was to evaluate an “all-in-one” MR procedure to examine the kidneys, the renal vascular supply and renal perfusion, and the urinary tract. In 64 patients (58 with urologic disease and 6 healthy volunteers), MR was performed including: (a) T1- and T2-weighted imaging; (b) 3D contrast-enhanced MR angiography (MRA), including the renal arteries, renal veins, as well as renal perfusion; and (c) 3D contrast-enhanced MR urography (MRU) in the coronal and sagittal plane. For the latter, low- and high-resolution images were compared. Prior to gadolinium injection, 0.1 mg/kg body weight of furosemide was administered intravenously. The results were compared with correlative imaging modalities (ultrasonography, intravenous urography, CT), ureterorenoscopy and/or surgical–pathologic findings. Visualization of the renal parenchyma, the vascular supply, and the collecting system was adequate in all cases, both in nondilated and in dilated systems and irrespective of the renal function. One infiltrating urothelial cancer was missed; there was one false-positive urothelial malignancy. Different MR techniques can be combined to establish an all-in-one imaging modality in the assessment of diseases which affect the kidneys and urinary tracts. Continuous refinement of the applied MR techniques and further improvements in spatial resolution is needed to expand the actual imaging possibilities and to create new tracts and challenges in the MR evaluation of urologic disease.

The Siemens electromagnetic Lithostar tube "C" and the new multiline tube "M" lithotripters were compared for the in situ treatment of ureteral calculi. A series of 248 patients with a calcium oxalate ureteral stone (proven by stone analysis) more than 4 mm in diameter were treated between December 1994 and September 1995 with the tube M Multiline lithotripter. The results were compared with those of 462 patients treated in prior years with tube C. High energy levels were obtained without sedation in 11% of patients with tube C and in 61% with tube M. The proportion of patients needing additional analgetics was 11% and 6%, respectively. The percentages of patients reporting no pain at all were 7 and 77. In proximal calculi, stone-free status was achieved in 63 of 79 patients (80%) with tube C and in 82 of 91 patients (90%) with tube M (p = 0.057). In distal calculi, stone-free status was achieved in 124 of 173 patients (72%) with tube C and in 134 of 157 patients (85%) with tube M (p = 0.0027). The evacuation rate for distal ureteral stones was significantly higher with tube M, which implies that the new shock head can enable the operator to apply higher energy without sedation because of the better tolerance.

Radical prostatectomy is considered the treatment of choice for achieving local eradication of organ-confined prostate cancer. Nevertheless, many patients develop recurrent disease, either local or systemic, indicating that even when the disease has been locally eradicated, cure may not be obtained. In fact, “recurrent disease” is an incorrect term because most malignant disease after radical prostatectomy is not a relapse of malignancy but rather the progression of persistent disease that was already present at surgery. Therefore it is better to discuss failure of treatment rather than tumor recurrence after treatment.

More than 85 years have elapsed since, in 1910, the German physician Carl Muller first described the potential for using hyperthermia (HT) as a new adjuvant to radiotherapy (RT) in the management of patients with advanced malignant neoplasms. In empiric studies of the first 100 patients with superficial tumors, Muller used high-frequency electromagnetic fields generated by a medical diathermy apparatus (Muller 1912). Despite poor control of his HT parameters during these early clinical trials, a significant improvement of the expected radiation effect in HT-treated patients was noted.

Prostate cancer is nowadays, after lung cancer, the second most common cause of cancer-related death in men (Boring et al. 1994). The risk of developing a clinically significant prostate cancer is about 10%, and approximately 25% of men with prostate cancer die of the disease (Cupp and Oesterling 1993). As a matter of fact, prostate cancer has become a major health problem. The debate on the usefulness (and the method) of screening for prostate cancer continues, but the management policy is also still the subject of debate.

Muscle-invasive bladder cancer is a deadly disease for which a number of new approaches have become available to improve prognosis. A recent review emphasized the importance of timely indication of surgery and highlighted current views regarding the adequate extent of the surgery and the importance of lymph node dissection. Furthermore, treatment using neoadjuvant and adjuvant systemic chemotherapy has become more prominent, while cystectomy and diversion should be conducted only in experienced centers. Optimal methods of urinary diversion and the use of robot-assisted laparoscopic cystectomy require further study.