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This study evaluates the effectiveness of desmopressin renal spray, an antidiuretic drug, in treating patients with acute renal colic. One hundred and eight patients admitted to the emergency room of our hospitals with acute renal colic were included in the study. Each patient, except those with hypertension or other cardiac insufficiency, received 40 micrograms desmopressin intranasal spray. In 58 patients (53.7%) pain was eliminated 30 min after desmopressin administration. Forty-four patients (40.7%) did not respond to desmopressin and received prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors, while another 6 patients required intramuscular pethidine for pain relief. No patient showed any side effects. We conclude that the simplicity and effectiveness of intranasal desmopressin spray in treating renal colic makes this simple method a useful means of confronting a frequent and disturbing urological problem.

We analyzed the phenotypic distribution of the major T-lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood of 22 renal cell carcinoma patients before and after nephrectomy. We also compared these distributions to those of healthy controls and related them to tumor spread. The lymphocyte subsets were analyzed by means of flow cytometry. The CD4+ subset was the only one which was significantly decreased (x +/- SD: 36.2 +/- 6.4 vs 41.4 +/- 2.2 in healthy controls, P < 0.05), this contributing to a significant decrease in the CD4/CD8 ration (x +/- SD: 102 +/- 0.56 vs 1.42 +/- 0.28, P < 0.05). The decrease was more apparent with advanced stage. Helper cell activity increased significantly after nephrectomy in the higher stage patients (x +/- SD: 41.1 +/- 4.6 vs 36.4 +/-3.1 and 38.2 +/- 3.9 vs 30.1 +/- 4.2 for stage T3 and T4 patients respectively). Knowledge of peripheral blood lymphocyte patterns that correlate with various tumor stages and therapies could provide information in host-tumor relationship and predict the clinical outcome and response to therapy.

Eosinophilic cystitis is a rare inflammatory lesion of the bladder of unknown etiology. It can be confused clinically and cytoscopically with invasive bladder cancer. We report a case in which the lesion presented as an invasive bladder tumor and we discuss the literature in brief.

Adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare tumor and experience in its diagnosis and treatment is limited. We present a case of non functioning adrenocortical carcinoma in which the pre-operative diagnosis of a kidney tumor had been made and a radical nephrectomy was performed.