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We report our experience in laparoscopic lymphadenectomy in non-seminomatous stage I testicular neoplasia. This technique is an alternative to the formal retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy. Between 1993 and 1996 we carried out 8 retroperitoneal laparoscopic lymphadenectomies in patients, aged 19–40 years, affected by non-seminomatous testicular neoplasia. We removed from 13 to 24 lymph nodes. Operating time ranged between 200 and 300 minutes. The mean stay in hospital was 5 days. Histological findings revealed micrometastatic lymph nodes in half the patients. No complications were reported except in one patient, who underwent TC-guided drain owing to voluminous lymphocele one week after the laparoscopic operation. Normal antegrade ejaculation was preserved in all cases and no retroperitoneal recurrence was noted at a mean 18 months follow-up.

The compartmentalized knapsack problem can be applied to activities that carry out cutting in two phases of an one-dimensional manner, such as cutting one-dimensional steel coils. The compartmentalized knapsack problem is a variation of the classic knapsack problem, which is a problem from the NP-Hardtype. It is discussed in the literature the heuristic approaches to solving the compartmentalized knapsack problem. This paper presents new heuristics for the resolution of the compartmentalized knapsack problem applied to the two-phase cutting of one-dimensional steel coils. Computational simulations show the efficiency of the proposed method, with precision close to the linear method.

Purpose: We evaluated the ablative and prophylactic potential of short schedule, up-front topical chemotherapy on low stage and grade recurrent bladder tumors. Materials and Methods: The study design consisted of 4 weekly instillations followed by transurethral resection during week 5. Mitomycin C was administered initially and mitoxantrone was administered following the same schedule if disease recurred during followup. Results: After up-front mitomycin C, 29 of 42 patients (69 percent) has a complete response with no need for transurethral resection, whereas residual disease was resected in the remaining 13 (31 percent). Disease recurred during followup in 22 of the 42 patients (52.4 percent), who were then treated with up-front mitoxantrone with a complete response in 14 (63.7 percent). Residual disease was resected in 8 patients (36.3 percent) with progression to grade 3 in 2. Conclusions: Short schedule intravesical chemotherapy can completely ablate small volume recurrent superficial bladder cancer in a relevant number of patients but it is not adequate prophylaxis.

In order to check how the learning curve of the method influenced complications in percutaneous surgery, we analysed two distinct periods of time during which the same operator accomplished 166 and 61 percutaneous procedures. We evaluated the results, stressing minor and major complications as well as final outcomes. Improvements in surgical technique were proved by a reduction in both operating time and hospital charge, and by better endopyelotomy results. Failure to improve PCNL results is due to the increased presence of staghom calculi in the second period (43.3% vs 32.7%).

The aim of this study was to evaluate in a long follow-up the time-course of carotid artery remodeling in a cohort of young grade I II hypertensives hypertensive subjects.