Search

Since accurate clinical staging is the ideal presupposition for any therapeutic decision in prostate cancer (PC), the aim of this paper is to review sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the imaging techniques routinely used to diagnose and stage PC. They are highly important parameters for selecting patients in whom the disease is confined to the prostate and who may benefit from radical surgery. This is particularly important when considering the high incidence of progression in patients with extracapsular disease or positive surgical margins and that 40–60% of patients with a clinically confined disease have extracapsular involvement shown at the histological examination.

The aim of the paper is to compare the pre-operative and postoperative urodynamic parameters of women with stress incontinence undergoing a TVT (Tension-free Vaginal Tape) operation in order to evaluate the functional dynamics of the operation. Twenty-two patients (mean age 56.3 years, range 30-69 years) underwent the TVT operation for the correction of stress urinary incontinence. Cervical urethral hypermobility was present in all the patients and only the TVT operation and no other surgical procedure was performed. The main urodynamic modification was the improved transmission pressure to the urethra (CTU%) at the post-operative check up, although the maximum urethral closure pressure (MUCP), the functional length (FL) and the maximum flow (Qmax) remained unchanged.

We evaluated the results obtained in radical cystectomy operations with an orthotopic neobladder, performed on 8 female subjects, at our Department since 1996. The aim of this study was to broaden the indication for this surgical treatment to women as well as in men and not only for oncological pathologies.

In some cases of primary transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), there may be some uncertainty in clinical decision making. We present a case in which a pT1-N0 urothelial tumor was found in the renal pelvis after an open nephrectomy for urolithiasis. Because incomplete excision of the ureter can lead to recurrence of the TCC, we deemed it necessary to remove the residual ureter. Therefore, a combined endoscopic-transvescical laparoscopic ureterectomy was performed. The transabdominal approach was chosen for the procedure, because the patient had already undergone open nephrectomy with retroperitoneal access and was thus likely to have adhesions and inflammation in the region. For the endoscopic phase of surgery, a technique of ureteral intussusception was combined with transurethral resection. The choice of the endoscopic transurethral procedure was prompted by the fact that transurethral resection of the ureteral orifice and invagination ureterectomy has already been proposed as the first step of nephroureterectomy. The combined endoscopic laparoscopic procedure was not technically demanding; the ureterectomy took no longer than an open procedure. The surgery was uneventful, and the patient resumed normal activities the day after surgery. The broader issue of whether this technique should be adopted by the urological community at large as a routine practice requires longer follow-up outcome data.