Awareness of European practitioners toward uncommon tropical diseases: are we prepared to deal with mass migration? Results of an international survey.

PURPOSE: The recent rise in migration from Africa through the Mediterranean basin into Europe has resulted in an increased incidence of uncommon diseases such as schistosomiasis and genito-urinary tuberculosis, which were previously largely unknown in this region. This study aimed to evaluate the insight of European urologists into diagnosing and managing these disease conditions and to determine whether they were adequately prepared to deal with the changing disease spectrum in their countries. METHODS: A survey including specific questions about the diagnosis and management of 'tropical' urological diseases was distributed among urologists working in Europe and Africa. Multivariate logistic regression models were performed to detect the continent (African or European) effect on knowledge of and insight into tropical urological diseases. RESULTS: A total of 312 surveys were administered. African and European respondents accounted for 109 (36.09%) and 193 (63.91%) respondents, respectively. The multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated a significant deficiency in the knowledge of tropical urological diseases in the European cohort compared with the African cohort (p < 0.05). Moreover, in the European cohort, markedly superior knowledge of tropical urological diseases was observed for respondents who had previously worked in a developing country. CONCLUSIONS: Though European urologists are not required to have the same insight as African urologists, they showed a very unsatisfactory knowledge of tropical urological diseases. The experience of working in a developing country could improve the knowledge of European urologists regarding tropical urological diseases.

Inter-rater reliability in the radiological classification of renal injuries.

INTRODUCTION: Although many radiologists invoke the surgical classification of renal injury proposed by the American Association for Surgery in Trauma (AAST), there has been only limited work on the role of the AAST system as an imaging stratification. The aim was to determine the inter-rater reliability (IRR) amongst radiologists and urologists using the AAST system. METHODS: A 1-year retrospective study of consecutive patients with computed tomography (CT) evidence of renal trauma managed at a Level 1 trauma center. Three radiologists and three urologists independently stratified the presentation CT findings according to the AAST renal trauma classification. Agreement between independent raters and mutually exclusive groups was determined utilizing weighted kappa coefficients. RESULTS: One hundred and one patients were included. Individual inter-observer agreements ranged from 54/101 (53.4%) to 62/101 (61.4%), with corresponding weighted kappa values from 0.61 to 0.69, constituting substantial agreement. Urologists achieved intra-disciplinary agreement in 49 cases (48.5%) and radiologists in 36 cases (35.6%). Six-reader agreement was achieved in 24 cases (23.7%). The AAST grade I injuries had the highest level of agreement, overall. CONCLUSION: The finding of substantial IRR amongst radiologists and urologists utilizing the AAST system supports continued use of the broad parameters of the AAST system, with some modification in specific categories with lower agreement.