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In 9 of 93 patients (9.7%) with urothelial cancer of the upper tract (7 renal pelvis tumors, 3 ureteral tumors), conservative surgery was employed using a free peritoneal autotransplant for replacement of the renal pelvis in 5 kidneys. Absolute indications for conservative surgery were solitary kidneys/nonfunctioning contralateral kidneys in 4 patients and bilateral tumors in 1 patient. Local recurrences developed 1-3 years after operation in 4 of 6 kidneys (3 patients), 3 of which had grade-2 and grade-3 primary lesions. All patients were treated successfully by repeated local excision. In the presence of a normal contralateral kidney, local tumor excision was done electively in 4 patients (3 low-grade/low-stage lesions, 1 high-risk patient), none of these patients developed recurrences. Two patients died without evidence of tumor recurrence, 7 patients are free of tumor at an average follow-up of 23 months (range 5-65 months). Local excision of urothelial cancer should be considered not only for solitary kidneys, bilateral tumors and cases with renal failure, but also for low-stage/low-grade localized tumors, leaving the patient better prepared for later treatment of a possible recurrence due to the well recognized chance of a multiplicity of tumors in time and space.

Doppler sonography and B-mode ultrasound scanning have been used to perform nephrotomies without circular arrest of the kidney in 107 renal lithotomies. Between 1 and 12 nephrotomies were performed on a single kidney. Average duration of the operation was 270 minutes. The blood loss varied between 20 and 4,500 ml. Three patients required a short period of pedicle clamping. The residual stone rate was 7.5 per cent. Of 9 complications 2 are attributable to the surgical technique. Late follow-up studies in 14 patients showed a 10 per cent improvement of kidney function.

To avoid damage to major arteries of the renal parenchyma during nephrotomy, intraoperative Doppler sonography was used experimentally and clinically as an artery finder. In experiments with 7 beagles segmental arteries were detected easily and reliably by sonography, and the arterial course thus indicated correlated perfectly with arteriograms and casts. In a clinical trial the Doppler artery finder was used in 7 patients with staghorn calculi that were removed via the renal pelvis and additional multiple selective nephrotomies. With as many as 7 selective nephrotomies in a single kidney there was no damage to the major arteries in any of these patients. Selective, avascular nephrotomy with the aid of the simple, quick and reliable technique of Doppler sonography promises improved functional results of transparenchymal stone manipulation.

Karyotyping was performed in 46 human renal cell carcinomas of various histological grades. Controls included chromosome analysis of normal renal parenchymal cells from the same patients. Various numerical chromosome aberrations were found as well as marker chromosomes. They are specific of the individual tumor but no single marker was identified occurring in all tumors tested. Only trisomy 3 was found in different tumors (31%), suggesting a more general character of this aberration. Histological dedifferentiation and large tumor size correlate with focusing of the karyotype towards distinct chromosomal modes indicative of distinct tumor cell subclones within these tumors. Their rapid growth, reflecting biological aggressiveness, is most probably responsible for the patients' poor prognosis.

The formation of a bowel reservoir of large capacity at low pressure by using small and large bowel (ileocaecal segment) has proved reliable for achieving continent urinary diversion (n = 80), for bladder augmentation (n = 42) as well as for total bladder replacement (n = 24). Encouraged by the results we obtained in our adult patients, we have used this technique during the last 3.5 years in 29 children. Indications for urinary diversions in children have been: neurogenic bladder with diplegia (n = 8), bladder exstrophy (n = 2), traumatic loss of the bladder (n = 1), urogenital sinus (n = 1) and rhabdomyosarcoma of the prostate or bladder (n = 2). Bladder augmentation was indicated in 6 children with iatrogenic bladder loss, in 5 children with neurogenic bladder without diplegia and in 4 boys with incontinent epispadias or exstrophy. In children with bladder exstrophy or incontinent epispadias, continence was achieved using a modified Young-Dees technique with formation of a long intra-abdominal muscular tube made out of the bladder plate or the low-capacity bladder. The capacity of the urinary reservoir was guaranteed by bladder augmentation or bladder replacement with an ileocaecal pouch. During a mean follow-up period of 26 months (bladder augmentation) and 21 months (continent diversion) there was only one postoperative complication (intussusception ileus) which required operative revision. Two children had to undergo reoperation because of nipple problems. Follow-up, with monitoring of biochemical and metabolic parameters, is necessary to show whether this technique will provide a long-term successful solution for these problems.

Hamorrhagien, thromboembolische Geschehen und disseminierte intravasale Gerinnung sind bekanntermasen haufige Begleiterscheinungen maligner Tumoren und finden ihren Ausdruck in einer erhohten Fibrinogen- und Thrombozyten-Tumover-Rate.

We present our modified technique of short-term culture assay. As an experimental set-up we used the KK-47 bladder cancer cell line for chemosensitivity testing. The technique is very easy and requires only 3 days. The results were found to be reproducible.

Of 446 patients treated by extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy 22 had small nonobstructive caliceal stones associated with lumbar or flank pain. Size (less than 1 cm.) and location of the stone did not explain the severity of the symptoms, nor would they have been an indication for open or percutaneous stone removal. Followup consisted of a sonogram and a film of the kidneys, ureters and bladder on postoperative day 1, a film of the kidneys, ureters and bladder 2 weeks after treatment, and a film of the kidneys, ureters and bladder and/or excretory urography after 3 months for patients with residual stone fragments. All patients were interviewed 3 to 15 months after treatment to ascertain the resolution or persistence of the symptoms. After extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, 3 of 22 patients had persistent stone fragments for more than 3 months: 2 reported no change and 1 had marked improvement of the symptoms. Of the remaining 19 patients 15 (79 per cent) had complete resolution of the pain and 4 (21 per cent) had significant symptomatic improvement. Thus, 20 of 22 patients (91 per cent) achieved complete or significant relief of pain. The only complication was a perirenal hematoma that resolved spontaneously. These results indicate that small, nonobstructive caliceal stones can be responsible for persistent, severe flank pain. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy is an effective, noninvasive treatment for caliceal stones and it can be justified as therapeutic treatment when the correlation between a small caliceal stone and persistent flank pain is indeterminable.

Operations on the urinary collecting system successfully utilized the free peritoneal patch in a variety of situations, as animal experiments have shown. When used to cover defects the peritoneum works as a multipotent matrix for invasion of urothelium; when used as an envelope it prevents stricture due to perihilar/periureteral scarring. We used a free peritoneal patch in 31 operations on the renal pelvis and ureter between 1975 and 1980. The indications for the patch were; defects of the renal pelvis of ureteropelvic junction due to surgery for recurring stones or carcinoma of the pelvis; and pyelocalicotomy of an intrarenal pelvis if it was impossible to suture the pelvis. We also used the patch to envelop renal pelvis and ureter in extended perihilar inflammation or stenosis of the pyeloureteral junction and proximal ureter due to scarring. The results, as shown by urography, were excellent or good in 25 or the 31 cases. The transplantation of a free peritoneal patch is a simple, reliable technique that can be recommended for covering defects or preventing stricture in surgery of the renal pelvis and ureter.

The effect of lectins on cultured renal cell carcinoma and normal renal cells was studied. Ricin II showed effective inhibition of 3H-uridine and 3H-thymidine uptake by renal cell carcinoma and normal renal cells in all cases. Normal renal cells were more resistant to the inhibitory effect of ricin II as compared to renal cell carcinoma. Concanavalin agglutinin and wheat germ agglutinin led to stimulation of 3H-uridine and 3H-thymidine uptake by renal cell carcinoma and normal renal cells at low concentrations (0.2 micrograms/ml), and to suppression at high concentrations (2 and 20 micrograms/ml).

The diagnostic value of MR contrast between renal cortex and medulla (CMC) as an indicator of renal disease was retrospectively studied in 51 patients (9 patients with obstructive disease, 7 with inflammatory disease, 12 with various noninfectious parenchymal medical disease, 5 with vascular disease, 2 with diffuse neoplastic disease, 7 with hemosiderosis, and 10 with renal trauma [blunt trauma and 9 postlithotripsy]). Additionally, normal kidneys from 20 control subjects were studied. On T1-weighted spin-echo images (SE 500/30), CMC was visible in all the normal kidneys (19% contrast +/- 2% SD). A decrease in or an absence of CMC on T1-weighted images (SE 500/28) was found to be a sensitive but nonspecific sign in most of the renal diseases studied. CMC was visibly preserved at normal levels in 7 of the 9 kidneys traumatized by lithotripsy and in all 4 kidneys with acute renal obstruction; CMC was above normal in kidneys with hemosiderosis. In conclusion, alteration in CMC is a sensitive but nonspecific indicator of renal disease. Furthermore, normal CMC can be seen in the presence of renal pathology.

The mechanism of canine penile erection was studied in 6 'chronic' and 15 'acute' male dogs by means of sacral root stimulation combined with pharmacologic studies. The basic mechanism of erection cannot be explained by a pure increase in arterial perfusion of the cavernous spaces due to neural vasomotor regulation. The vasomotor mechanism, whether pure arteriolar vasodilation, or venous drainage impairment, or secondary to as yet undefined behavior of the corporal smooth muscle, can be activated by stimulation of the parasympathetic outflow. Those preganglionic fibers may synapse to noncholinergic and non-beta-adrenergic neurons, which release a yet unidentified vasodilator neurotransmitter mediating the neurovascular effect.

Fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) were determined in a series of 98 patients with malignant urological tumors using a staphylococcal clumping test. The results are compared with the FDP of 61 urological patients without malignant tumors. No difference between the series of radically operated tumor patients and the control group could be found. The FDP in a series of patients with persistent tumors were clearly higher than those of the control group: especially the results for patients with renal cell carcinoma were significantly higher. The highest concentration of FDP was found in patients with metastases. Therefore, FDP in serum could be a possible tumor marker for patients with renal cell carcinoma.

To identify the spinal origin of the innervation of the bladder neck and pelvic floor muscles retrograde axonal transport of horseradish peroxidase and tritiated horseradish peroxidase was used in a technique combining histochemistry and autoradiography. This technique proved to be suitable for differential labeling of spinal cord neurons innervating two different targets, thus extension as well as overlap of different nuclei could be judged. The parasympathetic outflow was concentrated in the intermediolateral and intermediomedial gray matter of S2, the somatic innervation was derived mostly from Onuf's motor nucleus in S1 and S2. Onuf's nucleus proved to be the main somatic motonucleus for pelvic floor muscles; there was no evidence of an autonomic share. The innervation of the striated urethral sphincter also originated in this nucleus; there was no basic difference when it was compared to the innervation of other pelvic floor muscles.

There is still controversy regarding the active role of striated intramural and periurethral muscles and their relative share of function for urinary continence under stress conditions. To evaluate the function of the periurethral muscles, we subjected a dog model to the physiologic stress condition created by sneezing. Simultaneous measurements of intravesical and three urethral pressures were obtained in the intact urinary tract and in a noncontractile substitute urethra, which was pulled through the pelvic floor and studied with and without additional pelvic floor suspension. The data clearly confirm the active role of striated sphincteric muscles for continence under stress conditions. The reflex contraction of the striated sphincteric muscles constitutes the majority of the distal urethral closure mechanism under stress conditions and generates intraurethral pressures, which exceed those of passive transmission of intra-abdominal pressure. The intramural striated sphincter contributes a share of less than 10% to this stress response, while the vast majority of the pressure rise is generated by the periurethral striated muscles. Surgical suspension of the pelvic floor can enhance effectivity of this stress mechanism, and thus seems to be a sound physiological concept in surgical treatment of incontinence.

In 14 male dogs, the functional urethra was replaced by a bladder flap tube in a 2-stage procedure. In the 1st stage of the operation a bipedicle strip from the anterior bladder wall was tubularized around a 10F or 12F catheter. After 10 to 12 weeks the 2nd stage of the procedure was performed: the bladder neck was transected and sutured, and the cranial pedicle of the bipedicle tube was transected and pulled through the bluntly dissected pelvic floor muscles. From the distal end of the tube a perineal urostoma was created to facilitate radiological and urodynamic followup. Eight dogs completed a followup 5 months after the 2nd procedure. Urodynamic and x-ray studies were done preoperatively, after the 1st, and twice after the 2nd operation. All dogs were continent as a result of a mean functional urethral length of 8 cm. with a maximum closure pressure of 82.9 cm. H 2 O. Closure pressure was related to the tone of the smooth muscular tube and additional compression of the tube by the pelvic floor muscles. The method is considered to be applicable in cases of congenital defects or total loss of the functional urethra.

From 1967 to 1985 conservative surgery (enucleation, n = 49; partial resection, n = 7) was performed for renal tumors in 57 patients (age 31-77, mean 54.8 years). Imperative indications for conservative surgery (n = 29) were chronic renal failure, benign pathology of contralateral kidney, functional or anatomical solitary kidney, and bilateral tumors. Elective conservative surgery (n = 28) was done for small, peripherally located lesions, in cases of uncertain malignancy and in one tumor detected by chance during stone surgery. Tumors removed for imperative indications were 2-11 cm (mean 5.8 cm) in size. In the elective group, tumor size ranged from 1 to 7 cm (mean 3.3 cm). Follow-up was 6-103 months (mean 35.8 months). In the group with imperative indications, there was 1 postoperative mortality; 18 of 29 patients are alive without evidence of disease, 2 with metastases, and 2 were reoperated conservatively for local recurrences; 1 was lost to follow-up, 2 died of metastases, and 3 died due to unrelated reasons. In the elective group all 28 patients are living free of cancer.

We investigated the impact of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy on cardiac pacemakers, arterial calcifications, and vascular clips. When 22 cardiac pacemaker pulse generators mounted five cm. lateral to the focus of the lithotripter were subjected to both synchronous and asynchronous shock waves, one reverted to magnet rate with synchronous shocks and 11 were inhibited by asynchronous shocks. None was damaged or spuriously reprogrammed. In a second experiment, 10 canine and cadaveric aortas and common iliac arteries with metal surgical clips on two to three mm. branches were pressurized with methylene blue in normal saline at 150mm.Hg and fixed in the Dornier lithotripter. Shock waves (N = 2000; 22kV) were focused on the surgical clips and no leakage of methylene blue was found.

From 1984 to 1986, six children from 4 to 13 years of age, received a bladder augmentation by ileocecal cystoplasty (Mainz-pouch technique) because of an iatrogenic functional or morphologic bladder loss. Indications for operation were incontinence due to the low bladder capacity or threat to the upper urinary tract due to ureteral obstruction or vesicorenal reflux. Two of the children had already undergone supravesical urinary diversion by sigmoid conduit. After a follow-up period of 2 to 19 months, (mean 11 months), five of the six children are completely continent. One boy with a known weak sphincter still has slight, but decreasing, enuresis nocturna in periods of complete filling of the pouch, 1 month after the operation. All children are able to void their augmented bladders without residual urine.