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Prostate cancer is a problem of public health; the relevance of its mass screening remains to be demonstrated by the conclusions of ongoing randomized prospective studies of which the preliminary results are promising. Yet, non-randomised and/or retrospective studies report a benefit of screening-related mortality. On such basis, French scientific authorities currently recommend individual screening.

Scrotal traumas are rare. Most are blunt traumas caused by a direct blow on the scrotum. The testicle is projected against the pubic arch. Early surgical investigation has considerably improved the prognosis of testicular trauma, and reduced orchidectomy rate. ULtrasonography has also improved the management of scrotal trauma. But there is a controversy about accuracy of ultrasonography in predicting presence or absence of testicular disruption. ULtrasonography should not challenge the dogma regarding systematic surgical investigation of hematocele and enlarged scrotum. Long term outcomes (testicular atrophy, infertility) may be more frequent as previously thought and should be detected.

The individual screening of the general population can only be envisaged after the age of 50 years when the incidence of prostatic cancer increases significantly. Individual screening by PSA in an asymptomatic subject must only be proposed to men likely to benefit from curative treatment, i.e. between the ages of 50 and 70 years, and only after performing digital rectal examination. The combination of these two methods detects 54% of prostatic cancers in men over the age of 50 years. PSA assay can be made more reliable by comparison with age-dependent normal limits, PSA density compared to prostatic volume, rate of progression, and assay of the free and bound fractions.

Epidemiology. The incidence of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) has increased in proportion to the life expectancy and has become the third leading cause of health expenditure in industrialized countries. Eighty per cent of men are treated for benign prostatic hyperplasia during their lifetime. In Europe, the mean age of diagnosis is 65 years. The clinical symptoms are assessed by the IPSS score (International Prostate Symptom Score) and by the maximum flow rate, where frank dysuria is defined as a flow rate of less than 10 ml/sec. Physiology. The prostate contains equal proportions of glandular epithelial structures and fibromuscular connective tissue stroma. The glandular prostate is innervated by cholinergic nerves, while the smooth muscle of the stroma and the urethra are innervated by adrenergic nerves. BPH arises in the transitional zone (fairly glandular). Androgen deprivation (castration, antiandrogens, progestogens, 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors) induces a 30% reduction of the prostatic volume (especially epithelial). BPH could be due to reactivation of the embryonic potential of the stroma. Certain growth factors appear to be involved in BPH. Inflammatory and immunological phenomena may also be involved. Evaluation. Plan of clinical interview, clinical examination and laboratory and radiological data. A 40-year-old man has one chance in 30 of being operated for benign prostatic hyperplasia if he lives to the age of 80. Medical treatments have been developed since 1980 which inhibit the course of BPH and minimize some of the clinical symptoms: plant extracts, alpha-blockers, 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors. Conventional surgical treatments, open prostatectomy and endoscopic resection, have been completed by laser therapy, thermotherapy and cryotherapy.

Monoclonal antibodies produced using hybridoma technology have enabled identification of new tumor markers. Targets include tumor-associated antigens, growth factors and their receptors, blood group antigens, cell proliferation antigens, oncogene or tumor suppressor gene products, and markers for drug resistance. Immunohistochemical or flow cytometry studies performed with monoclonal antibodies can be used to determine the immunophenotype of normal and tumoral urothelium; specificity may be primarily for superficial or deep tumors, or for different tumor grades. A number of monoclonal antibodies have been found of prognostic value independently from conventional prognostic criteria. Others have shown diagnostic value. The most promising monoclonal antibodies are reviewed herein.

Recent studies have shown improvements in survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, perhaps as a result of stage selection and reduced perioperative morbidity rather than of increased effectiveness of treatments. The main ongoing therapeutic trials (combined use of chemotherapy with either surgery or radiation therapy) aim at controlling occult metastases which may be present in up to 50% of apparently localized bladder cancers. Identification of risk factors for metastatic disease is therefore crucial. In this study, factors potentially associated with response to treatment were analyzed on the basis of a review of outcomes reported with current treatments.

Descriptive anatomy teaches us that the lymphatic drainage of the bladder converges directly on to the middle and internal chains of the external iliac nodes, but never on to the external chain, sometimes on a sacral common iliac node and widely on internal iliac nodes. Surgical observations confirm this: no lymph node metastasis in the external chain of external iliac nodes is noticed, nor common iliac adenopathy without upstream invasion. On the basis of these descriptions, lymphadenectomy was performed from inguinal ligament to iliac bifurcation. Anatomical data largely explain pelvic recurrences due to the existence of unremoved common iliac nodes or unrecognized hypogastric nodes because of difficult access without sacrificing efferent branches of internal iliac artery.