Severe Penile Curvature following Otis Urethrotomy.

Urethral stricture is a common urological pathology with a high recurrence rate after treatment. Urethral manipulations are among its main causes. In this paper, urethral stricture developed secondary to urethral catheterization and was treated with cold-knife internal urethrotomy and the Otis urethrotomy procedure. During the follow-up period, severe ventral penile curvature preventing sexual intercourse developed due to fibrosis of the corpus spongiosum and tunica albuginea of the penis. This ventral penile curvature was corrected with a separate operation using a tunica vaginalis flap harvested from the left scrotum.

Postcircumcisional ischemia of the glans penis treated with pentoxifylline.

Ischemia of the glans penis is a rare postcircumcision complication. We describe a four-year-old boy developing ischemia of the glans penis 48 h after circumcision. The ischemia completely resolved following treatment with iv pentoxifylline (PTX) for six days, and the patient was discharged without any problems. PTX treatment should be kept in mind as an alternative treatment modality in ischemia of the glans penis which is a serious potential post-circumcision complication.

Detection of chromosomal aberrations in prostate cancer by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

PURPOSE: Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a powerful tool for quantitative analysis of chromosomes and genes and can be applied in a variety of specimens, including cell cultures, isolated nuclei from fresh and fixed tissues, and histological tissue sections. For detection of numerical chromosome aberrations, we examined prostatic cancer samples at our department. In addition, we also observed primary and secondary aberrations taking part in the initiation and progression of tumours. MATERIALS AND METHODS: FISH using chromosome-specific alpha-satellite DNA probes for chromosomes 7, 8, 9, 10, 17, X and Y was performed on 19 prostatic cancer and 19 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) samples obtained from transurethral resection (TUR) and archival paraffin-embedded blocks. RESULTS: Numerical aberrations were observed in 41% of the tumours studied. A range of aberrant copy numbers of chromosome 9 (68%), 7 (63%), 8 (58%), 17 (37%), Y (32%) and 10 (26%) was observed. We did not observe significant aberrations in BPH samples. In prostate cancer patients, chromosomes 7 (47%), 8 (58%) and 9 (63%) were monosomic by FISH. Monosomy 8 and 9 were significant differences (p>0.05) between prostate cancer and BPH patients. CONCLUSIONS: FISH analysis could be observed an one of strongest methods of analysis in detecting numerical aberrations of individual chromosomes with application to paraffin-block samples, metaphase and, interphase nuclei. To our knowledge, this analysis is firstly studied in Turkish patients. Therefore, results of this analysis may be important for Turkish patients.

Accelerated superfractionated radiotherapy with concomitant boost for invasive bladder cancer.

PURPOSE: To determine the toxicity and clinical effectiveness of accelerated superfractionated radiotherapy with delayed concomitant boost (ASCBRT) in locally invasive carcinoma of the bladder. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between July 1997 and December 2001, 87 patients (unsuitable or refusing cystectomy) with invasive bladder cancer underwent ASCBRT. The mean patient age was 66 years (range 40-90). The stage distribution was as follows: 2 T1, 51 T2, 13 T3, and 21 T4. Initially, the whole pelvis was treated by 1.8-Gy conventional daily fractions up to a total dose of 45 Gy. A small field boost covering gross disease was added as a second daily fraction (1.5 Gy) during the last 3 weeks of the 5-week schedule up to a total dose of 67.5 Gy. The interfraction interval was a minimum of 6 h. The patients were evaluated in follow-up for toxicity, local control, and survival. RESULTS: All but 2 patients completed the study protocol. Grade 3 acute urinary toxicity was observed in 2 patients. Grade 2 and 3 late bladder toxicity was observed in 12 patients and 1 patient, respectively. Grade 2 and 3 late bowel toxicity was observed in 5 and 3 patients, respectively. The 3-year actuarial local control, distant disease control, cause-specific survival, and overall survival rate was 64%, 78%, 58%, and 46%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed T stage as independent predictor of complete response. For Stage T2 and T3, the 3-year local control rate was 77% and 48%, respectively. At the last follow-up, 53 patients (61%) were still alive with a survival time between 6 and 62 months. CONCLUSION: ASCBRT is feasible with acceptable tolerance even in relatively old patients with Stage T3 or greater tumor. The encouraging locoregional control and survival results of this institutional experience, favorable compared with conventional radical and other accelerated fractionated (with or without a concomitant boost) RT series, make ASCBRT worthy of further study in a Phase III trial.