Efficacy of tadalafil on symptom-specific bother in men with lower urinary tract symptoms.

INTRODUCTION: This multicenter and prospective study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of tadalafil on patient-reported bother for each symptom in men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). METHODS: Men with LUTS received 5 mg of tadalafil daily for 4 weeks. We assessed change in symptom severity using both international prostate symptom score (IPSS), and overactive bladder symptom score (OABSS), as well as patient-reported quality of life (QOL: bother or satisfaction) for each symptoms using IPSS-visual analog scale (IPSS-VAS) and OABSS-VAS. RESULTS: We found significant improvements in total IPSS (P < 0.001), including voiding symptoms (P < 0.001), storage symptoms (P < 0.001), and QOL (P < 0.001). All VAS measures corresponding to symptoms in IPSS and OABSS also significantly improved (P < 0.001). The most bothersome symptoms for each patient at baseline evaluated by VAS measures significantly improved (P < 0.001). Patients whose most bothersome symptoms at baseline included IPSS-Q7 (nocturia) showed significantly smaller improvement of VAS measure after treatment than those without it (P = 0.024). CONCLUSIONS: Daily tadalafil significantly improved not only symptom severity of LUTS but also patient-reported QOL on each symptom.

[Localized amyloidosis of the urinary bladder: a case report].

Amyloidosis is characterized by extracellular deposition of abnormal insoluble fibrils, which cause structural and functional disorders. Amyloidosis is classified into systemic and localized amyloidosis. Localized amyloidosis in individual organs is uncommon. We report a rare case of localized form of primary amyloidosis of the urinary bladder. A 76-year-old male visited our hospital with a complaint of macroscopic hematuria. Cystoscopy showed submucosal hematoma in the anterior wall and broad-based mass occupying the trigone without normal mucosa covered by calcification. Transurethral biopsy and resection were performed. Histopathological diagnosis was AL type amyloidosis occupying submucosal extracellular space. We gave the patient occlusive dressing with dimethyl sulfoxide. In 12 months, cystoscopy and magnetic resonance imaging revealed improvement of the mass-like lesion in the bladder wall.

Technique for a hybrid system of real-time transrectal ultrasound with preoperative magnetic resonance imaging in the guidance of targeted prostate biopsy.

Diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for prostate has achieved increasingly higher levels of accuracy. Because real-time MR-guided targeted biopsy is still a complicated and expensive procedure, there is considerable interest in a technique of MR/transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) hybridized image-guided biopsy. However, because the 3-D shapes of the prostate at the time of image-acquisition at preoperative MRI are likely to be different from the intra-operative TRUS images, the precise registration of each 3-D volume data is critical. To reduce the potential errors in registration of TRUS with MRI, we introduce new procedural techniques in a rigid image fusion technique. First, preoperative MR images were obtained with a specifically-made plastic outer-frame, with exactly the same shape as the real TRUS probe, placed in the rectum, in order to simulate the deformation of the prostate caused by the absence or presence of a TRUS probe during the acquisition of MR or TRUS images. Second, instead of using a single plane of longitudinal image, we applied biplane TRUS images to be shown in parallel on a multiplanar display with corresponding reconstructed MRI, in order to register both horizontal and longitudinal images of the prostate simultaneously, thereby achieving improved 3-D anatomical matching.

Measurement of postvoid residual urine in conscious mice using high-frequency transrectal ultrasound.

The aim of this study was to develop a novel technique for a minimally invasive ultrasound measurement of postvoid residual urine (PVR) in conscious mice using a miniature ultrasound probe and a transrectal approach. The PVR was determined by the ellipsoid formula in the maximum sectional image of the bladder visualized with a 20-MHz ultrasound probe (2 mm in diameter) inserted into the rectum. The accuracy, including the intra- and interobserver reproducibilities, of the ultrasonic PVR measurements (in 10 5- to 50-week-old mice) was evaluated, which revealed excellent internal consistency. In M(3) muscarinic acetylcholine receptor knockout male mice, a chronological evaluation of the PVR identified abnormal urinary retention present at infancy and exacerbated with aging, suggesting significant voiding dysfunction. Our technique for the measurement of PVR in conscious mice was accurate and useful for identifying the voiding dysfunction in mice.

Transvesical laparoscopic cross-trigonal ureteral reimplantation for correction of vesicoureteral reflux: initial experience and comparisons between adult and pediatric cases.

PURPOSE: Transvesical laparoscopic cross-trigonal ureteral reimplantation (TLCUR) has been reported as an alternative procedure for vesicoureteral reflux mainly in pediatric cases. We review our initial experience with TLCUR and evaluate its feasibility in adult patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed TLCUR in 30 patients (22 females and 24 bilateral cases) with a median age of 14.5 years. RESULTS: The median operating time was 145 minutes in the unilateral cases and 230 minutes in the bilateral cases. Blood loss was minimal in all cases. No intraoperative complications were observed. The urethral catheter was removed at day 2 to 3. One persistence of reflux and one uretero-vesico anastomosis stricture were observed. The total success rate of 49 ureters in 27 patients, in whom postoperative cystography was performed, was 96% (47/49). Comparing the first 15 and last 15 cases, patient age was similar, the operation time was significantly shorter in the last 15 cases, and both operative failures were found in the first 15 cases. Comparing the 15 pediatric and 15 adult cases, the operation time did not differ between the two groups and one operative failure was observed in each group. CONCLUSION: This procedure was an effective and safe alternative minimally invasive procedure for both adult and pediatric patients with reflux.

Four-dimensional ultrasonography for dynamic bladder shape visualization and analysis during voiding.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe initial applications of 4-dimensional ultrasonography (4DUS) for visualizing dynamic change in 3-dimensional (3D) bladder shape as well as for analyzing intravesical volume and diameters during voiding. METHODS: In 15 healthy volunteers and 5 patients with lower urinary tract symptoms, 4DUS images of the bladder during voiding were obtained by transabdominal 4DUS and compared with the outcome of uroflowmetry. Changes of intravesical volume as well as diameters in axial, coronal, and sagittal planes were measured and analyzed in comparison with uroflow data. RESULTS: Dynamic 3D visualization of the bladder shape was feasible in all 20 men. Multiplanar display of 4DUS showed dynamic 3D images of the bladder during voiding to be simultaneously visualized in the axial, coronal, and sagittal planes. The change and decrease rate in intravesical volume calculated by 4DUS data had significant correlation with the average flow rate (P = .02) and the maximum flow rate (P = .04), respectively. Among the 3 diameters, the change of coronal diameter was significantly most correlated with change of the intravesical volume (P < .0001). The change in coronal diameter, which was observed in patients with urinary disturbance, had a significant difference compared with those observed in control subjects (P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: Monitoring of voiding with 4DUS was feasible in healthy men and patients with lower urinary tract symptoms. Four-dimensional ultrasonography has the potential to be a novel noninvasive urodynamic modality to visualize dynamically the lower urinary tract during voiding and to improve pathophysiologic understanding of voiding.

Neuroselective current perception threshold evaluation of bladder mucosal sensory function.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate human bladder mucosal sensory function by neuroselective Current Perception Threshold (CPT) measures from healthy and neuropathic bladders. METHODS: Eight healthy volunteers and 38 patients with urinary symptoms underwent conventional urodynamic tests including water-filling cystometry and ice water test. Standardized neuroselective CPT measures were obtained from the left index finger and the mucosa of the posterior bladder wall. Three different CPTs were obtained from each test site using a constant alternating current sinusoid waveform electrical stimulus presented at 2000Hz, 250Hz and 5Hz stimulation frequencies, which could selectively reflect the functions of the large myelinated fibers (A-beta-fiber), the small myelinated fibers (A-delta-fiber), and the unmyelinated fibers (C-fiber), respectively. RESULTS: As the determination of CPT values on the finger skin, the CPT values in the bladder could be determined using the neuroselective measures in all patients but three who had no sensory response (absence of sensation) caused by complete spinal injury. In the 8 patients with detrusor hyperreflexia due to incomplete spinal cord injury (supra-sacral lesion), the bladder CPT value (4.0+/-1.9) at 5Hz was significantly lower (p<0.01) than that in the controls (26.2+/-17.7). In the neurogenic bladders determined to be underactive (n=11, including post pelvic surgery, post infra-sacral level spinal cord injury and diabetes patients), the higher CPT values of bladder mucosal sensory functions were found at 5Hz (p<0.05), 250Hz (p=0.07), and 2000Hz (p<0.05) compared to the controls. CONCLUSIONS: Quantitative neuroselective measurement of CPT values in the human bladder mucosal function was feasible. Hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity of the urinary sensory function could be determined using the CPT values in comparison to control. The quantitative neuroselective estimation of the bladder sensory functions in different types of sensory peripheral nerve fibers may contribute to the appropriate selection of therapeutic strategy in patients with urinary sensory dysfunction.