Awareness and compliance of urologists in the Middle East with minimally invasive surgical devices for the management of benign prostate hyperplasia.

Objectives: The objective is to assess urologists' awareness of and compliance with available minimally invasive devices (MIDs) for the management of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). Methods: An online Internet-based survey was sent to urologists through E-mail. Baseline characteristics included age, location and duration of practice, and number of prostatectomies performed in the previous 12 months. Awareness is based on the surgeons' opinions about their advantages and drawbacks. Results: A total of 308 participants responded to the survey; 87.0% were most aware of Rezum, followed by Urolift (59.1%), Aquablation (33.1%), and combined temporary implantable nitinol device (iTIND), and Zenflow (17%). In the past 12 months, 84.1% used MIDs in their practice. A total of 47.1% of respondents believe that these devices have comparable outcomes with the traditional interventions, 52.9% are unsure of their long-term benefits, and 71% feel that it is too early to judge. Forty-three percent believe that these devices are reserved only for high-risk patients, and 52% recommend that they should be available in their centers. Most respondents (90.9%) prefer Rezum, Urolift (28.2%), and Aquablation (12.6%) because they are less invasive, less time-consuming, and have few complications. Interestingly, 59% recommend MIDs to their family members. Conclusions: Most respondents are more aware of Rezum, Urolift, and Aquablation than iTIND and Zenflow. In addition, most respondents agree that these MIDs and traditional prostate interventions have comparable outcomes despite the former lacking long-term outcome assessment. High cost and no long-term data may influence the widespread acceptance of these MIDs.

Rezum water vaporization therapy versus transurethral resection of the prostate in the management of refractory urine retention: matched pair comparative multicenter experience.

PURPOSE: To compare the efficacy of Rezum with a matched cohort of patients undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for catheter-dependent urine retention secondary to benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). METHODS: A retrospective review was performed for consecutive catheter-dependent patients who underwent Rezum for BPH. Patients were matched and compared with a similar cohort undergoing TURP, using non-inferiority analysis on propensity score-matched patient pairs. Patients were followed up at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months by international prostate symptoms score (IPSS), quality of life (QoL) index, peak flow rate (Qmax) and postvoid residual urine (PVR). RESULTS: Eighty-one patients undergoing Rezum were compared with equal number of matched patients who undergoing TURP. Patients undergoing Rezum experienced significantly shorter operation time (25.5 ± 8.7 vs. 103.4 ± 12.6 min; p < 0.001), lower intraoperative bleeding (2.4% vs. 20.7%, p < 0.001), shorter hospital stay (1.2 ± 0.9 vs. 2.4 ± 1.3 d, p < 0.001) and longer catheter time (12.6 ± 6.0 vs. 2.3 ± 1.2 d, p < 0.001), with no need for transfusion. Successful postoperative voiding was comparable between both arms (90.2% vs. 92.7%, p = 0.78), respectively. Despite patients undergoing TURP had significantly better voiding outcomes after 1 and 3 months, both groups were comparable after six and 12 months in terms of mean IPSS (11.1 ± 6.4 vs. 10.8 ± 3.4, p = 0.71), QoL indices (2.4 ± 1.6 vs. 2.1 ± 2.3, p = 0.33) and Qmax (22.0 ± 7.7 v. 19.8 ± 6.9 ml/sec, p = 0.06). CONCLUSION: This study supports the safety and efficacy of Rezum in the management of catheter-dependent patients secondary to BPH, with comparable functional outcomes to TURP. Until a randomized clinical comparison is available, long-term data are crucially recommended to compare the recurrence and reoperation rates.

Pathological and clinical outcomes of adrenalectomy: A multi-center experience in Saudi Arabia.

Objective: To determine the nature of adrenal pathology in patients undergoing adrenalectomy in Saudi Arabia over the last decade and compare it with the literature. We compared perioperative outcomes between minimally invasive adrenalectomy (MIA) and open adrenalectomy (OA). Methods: This retrospective study included patients who underwent adrenalectomy at five tertiary care centers in Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2020. We collected patients' baseline and perioperative characteristics and detailed hormonal evaluation of adrenal masses. Results: Among 160 patients (mean age 44 ± 14.5 years; mean BMI 29.17 ± 5.96 kg/m2), 84 (51.5 %) were men and 51.5 % had left-sided adrenal masses. The mean tumor size was 6.1 ± 4.2 (1.0-19.5) cm, including 60 (37.5 %) incidentalomas and 65 (40.6 %) functioning masses. Histopathology revealed 74 (46.2 %) adenomas and 24 (15 %) cancers or metastases from other primary organs; 20 %, 8.8 %, and 2.5 % of patients had pheochromocytoma, myelolipoma, and 2.5 % ganglioneuroblastoma, respectively. MIA and OA were performed in 135 (84.4 %) and 21 (15.6 %) patients, respectively. Adrenalectomy was increasingly performed over three equal periods in the last decade (17.5 % vs 34.4 % vs 48.1 %), with increasing numbers of MIAs to replace OAs. OA patients had larger tumors and needed blood transfusion more frequently (47.6 % vs 10.8 %, p< 0.001). MIA was significantly associated with shorter operative time, shorter length of stay, and less blood loss. Postoperative complications occurred in 10 (6.2 %) patients and were significantly higher for OA (24 % vs 3.0 %, p< 0.001). Conclusions: The majority of adrenal masses are benign. Herein, the observed functional and perioperative outcomes were comparable to those of available meta-analyses.

Influence of social media on urologic knowledge acquisition among young urologists in Saudi Arabia.

Objectives: The present study explores how young urologists in Saudi Arabia are adopting social media as a learning tool and how this new development is shaping as far as learning is concerned. Methods: A 18-item online survey via survemonkey.com was conducted. The survey was distributed through email in Saudi Arabia. The survey targeted young urologists and urology residents. The survey design and distribution was performed according to CHERRIES guidelines. Due to the quantitative nature of study data, SPSS software was used to analyze collected data. Results: A total of 104 young Saudi urologists responded to our survey. Participants were mostly familiar with the use of Twitter (86%), followed closely by YouTube (82%) and then Snapchat and Instagram (73% and 63%, respectively), a large portion (72%) of participants believe that social media has a moderate-to-high influence on their urology knowledge, YouTube was by far the most used source to watch and understand surgical skills, followed by reference books and websites, respectively. Conclusion: Social media has contributed to the spread of medical information among urology community and outside the urology community as well, with easier spread of medical knowledge to all involved by using social media, an extensive impact is achieved to both physicians and patients as well. For future work, this study should be conducted again, to monitor and compare the progression of usage among urologists.