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Objective: Achieving residents' medical training of quality is a constant concern in the Confederación Americana de Urología (CAU), the third Urological Society worldwide. We aim to analyze the diversity of state training programs, with the intention to identify opportunities for global improvement within them and also to analyse the professional reality in different countries., Methods: Data from 2nd and 3rd Foro Educativo CAU regarding postgraduate training and labour implications are reviewed. This information is complemented by the opinion of representatives involved with the academic training in Confederación Americana de Urología, who have analyzed the reality and current status of the urological training through a 10-question survey that describes different aspects of residency program in the countries confederated in CAU., Results: A total of 3,000 graduate doctors train as residents in Urology at the CAU environment. Each year 670 residents begin their training program in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, a territory that serves nearly 650 million people, with an active professional force of around 16.800 professionals. Detailed data on training, employment and supporting reality in the countries that comprise the CAU are presented. We also discuss the proportion of residents who carry out research and doctorate during the residency program. Finally, we examine the proportion of professionals who receive specific training at the end of their residence, the relative importance of this training and what are the most popular environments to carry it out., Conclusions: Current postgraduate training in CAU environment is heterogeneous in their programs, as well as in the modes of accreditation and recertification. Academic activities do not seem to be properly valued. However, specific training offers better expectations of professional development.

Prostate cancer screening is an absolutely controversial topic and under debate. The points of view from which the problem is analyzed also influence this issue; patient, physician and Health Care authorities have different interests that most of the times are not comprehensively analyzed. Currently, no clinical guideline supports the performance of a population screening with active recruitment, but they do support the credible information to the man who desires its performance of potential benefits and risks (opportunistic screening), as well as its performance in certain risk groups. Nevertheless, what is inherent to any screening program is the overdiagnosis of clinically irrelevant disease, which in prostate cancer has been calculated around 50%, and that, from our point of view, gives cause to the correct implementation of active surveillance programs to tamponade the potential deleterious effects of active therapies of prostate cancer.

Objective: To assess the prognostic role of clinical and pathological variables in patients with renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) treated surgically., Material and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed our database of 394 consecutive patients with renal tumors. We excluded those with hereditary conditions, benign tumors or histological diagnosis other than RCC. The variables evaluated were weight loss, performance status, thrombocytosis, tumor diameter, nuclear grade, lymph node invasion and metastases. The main endpoint was cancer-specific survival (CSS). We performed univariate and multivariate analysis to determine prognostic factors., Results: We identified 345 patients with RCC treated surgically between 1980 and 2009. After a median follow-up of 32 months, 23% died from cancer; they had larger tumors (p<0.0001), higher nuclear grade (p<0.0001) and lymphovascular invasion (p<0.0001). The 5- and 10-year CSS was 97.6 and 97.6% for stage I, 75.3 and 63.8% for stage II; 62.3 and 55.5% for stage III; 16.5 and 11.0% for stage IV (p<0.0001). All variables were associated with CSS on univariate analysis. On multivariate analysis tumor size, thrombocytosis, nuclear grade, lymph node invasion and metastases were independently associated with cancer-related mortality., Conclusion: Our findings confirm the potential role of tumor size, nuclear grade, lymph node invasion and metastases. Thrombocytosis also has a prognostic role in patients with renal-cell carcinoma.

Objective: To analyze the outcome of patients with clinically localized prostate cancer (PCa) treated with radical prostatectomy (RP) in whom high-grade (HGPCa) and/or locally advanced disease (LAPCa) was found at RP specimen and to evaluate the prognostic value of well-known factors in this subset of patients., Material and Methods: Biochemical progression-free (bPFS) was determined with the Kaplan-Meier method. The effect of PSA, biopsy Gleason, clinical stage and number of adverse pathological factors was assessed with univariate and multivariate analyses., Results: After RP, 87 men had HGPCa (20.7%) or LAPCa (56.3%), with 20 (23%) having both criteria. Mean PSA was 15.5 +/- 14.0 ng/mL and mean follow-up 50.5 +/- 42.6 months. The 5-year bPFS for men with PSA < 10 ng/mL and > or = 10 ng/mL was 54.7% and 35.7%, respectively (p = 0.03). Regarding biopsy Gleason, the 5-year bPFS was 49% and 26% for patients with a score < or = 7 and > 7, respectively (p = 0.002). In the multivariate model, the biopsy Gleason score remained independently associated with biochemical progression., Conclusions: HGPCa and/or LAPCa confer poor prognosis; however, RP appears to offer acceptable control, particularly when initial PSA is < 10 ng/mL and biopsy Gleason is 7 or less.