[The figure of the head of service (Chairman): what profile should have?]. / La figura del Jefe de Servicio: qué perfil debe de tener?

Great social-health care changes in the short term have been predicted that will seriously affect the departmental structure and care hierarchy of future hospital, universitary, public or private. The Spanish Association of Urology (AEU) wondered whether in these circumstances, in which the welfare and economic management of the hospital so-called "industrial" will dominate over other traditional aspects of the scientific hierarchy, social welfare and teaching of head Urology of service, will change his image, goals, functions, and ultimately its authority. Likewise which must be the attributes of this new generation of department heads. To this end the AEU call a roundtable requesting opinions and comments which are reflected in the enclosed text.

Retrospective study of various conservative treatment options with bacille Calmette-Guérin in bladder urothelial carcinoma T1G3: Maintenance therapy. / Estudio retrospectivo de diferentes opciones de tratamiento conservador con Bacilo de Calmette-Guèrin en el carcinoma urotelial vesical T1G3: terapia de mantenimiento.

OBJECTIVE: To compare various conservative treatment options for high-grade T1 nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the preferred intravesical treatment for high-grade T1 tumours; however, a number of experts still question the need for maintenance BCG. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively analysed data from 1039 patients with primary and recurrent T1G3 NMIBC. All patients underwent complete transurethral resection of the bladder tumour (TURBT), with muscle in the sample and multiple bladder biopsies. The patients were treated with the following: only one initial TURBT (n=108), re-TURBT (n=153), induction with 27mg of BCG (Connaught strain) (n=87), induction with 81mg of BCG (n=489) or induction with 81mg of BCG+maintenance (n=202). The time to first recurrence, progression (to T2 or greater or to metastatic disease) and specific mortality of the disease was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier survival function and were compared using the log-rank test and the Cox multivariate regression model of proportional risks. RESULTS: The mean follow-up was 62±39 months. The risk of recurrence was significantly lower for the patients treated with maintenance therapy of 81mg of BCG than in the other treatment groups (P<.001). The risk of tumour progression was also significantly lower for the patients treated with maintenance BCG than for the patients treated only with one TURBT, re-TURBT and with induction therapy with 27mg of BCG (P=.0003). The specific disease mortality was significantly lower with BCG maintenance (9.4%) than with only one TURBT (27.8%; P=.003). CONCLUSIONS: In the case of T1G3 NMIBC, a complete dose of BCG with maintenance is associated with better recurrence results than are other conservative treatment modalities. The results of progression and survival specific to the disease were also better with induction BCG, with or without maintenance.

[Transurethral uretero-pyeloscopy. Preliminary report (author's transl)]. / Transurethrale Ureteropyeloskopie. Vorläufige Mitteilung.

A new rigid uretero-pyeloscope has been designed and used sofar for diagnosis and/or treatment of ureteral conditions in 3 patients. Its advantages over the existing flexible instruments and over the infant endoscopes which have been used in the past for this purpose, are discussed.

[Urethral surgery]. / Cirugía uretral.

A propos of the 25 anniversairy of Actas Urologicas Españolas it carry out a comprehensive up to date of the extended urethral surgery. The wide personal experience of the author rules through this revision ranging over the whole field of congenital abnormalities as well as the inherent complexity of surgical procedures and technical selection of for urethroplasty.

[Conservative parenchymal surgery in kidney neoplasms]. / Cirugía conservadora de parénquima en neoformaciones renales.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze retrospectively a series of 60 nephron sparing surgeries (NSS) in patients presenting with renal masses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The clinical histories of 59 patients undergoing NSS between january 1978 and december 1997 were reviewed. 40 were males, the mean age 54.4 years (range 17-77 years). 10 (17%) had bilateral synchronous tumors, 15 (25%) had a solitary kidney and 3 a renal insufficiency. In 25 patients NSS was obligatory, while in 34 it was elective. 30 (50%) of the renal masses had been diagnosed incidentally. Overall, 49 kidneys underwent an enucleation and 11 a partial nephrectomy. RESULTS: The histopathological exam revealed 43 (71.6%) renal cell carcinomas (RCC), 2 (3.4%) urothelial carcinomas, 6 (10.2%) oncocytomas, 7 (11.6%) angiomyolipomas and 2 (3.4%) multilocular cystic nephromas. Among the RCC, 8 had < or = 3 cm, 22 between 3.1-5 cm, 10 between 5.1-8 cm and 3 more than 8 cm. 31 (72.1%) were well encapsulated and only 2 (4.6%) invaded the nearby parenchyma. 7 (16.2%) were pT1, 34 (79%) pT2 and 2 (4.6%) pT3. 39 (90.3%) were G1 or G2, and only 4 (9.3%) were G3. Two patients (3.3%) died perioperatively, both from the obligatory group. 3 (6.8%) of the patients with malignant tumors progressed and died, all with CCR and from the obligatory surgery group. Another 3 patients of this group developed local recurrences, but were rescued with iterative surgery (conservative in 1); 2 of these patients had sporadic CCR, another a von Hippel Lindau disease. None of the 34 patients who underwent elective NSS progressed, nor recurred locally and all are alive and disease free; only 14 (56%) of the 25 patients operated on by necessity survived, although 6 of them died of causes not related with the kidney tumor. The cancer specific survival at 58.3 months of follow-up (range 5-187 months) is 86.8% for the whole series, 100% for the elective NSS group and 68.7% for the obligatory NSS group. 19 (31.6%) patients developed complications, 14 among the obligatory group; two died (hemorrhage and sepsis). 3 patients presented acute renal failure, but none required dialysis; presently 4 (6.7%) patients have poor renal function and 1 requires dialysis. CONCLUSION: NSS affords good control of renal carcinoma; in the cases operated on electively, the 100% cause specific survival yielded by NSS supports the use of conservative surgery in patients with well delimited tumors and normal contralateral kidney.

[Renal angiomyolipoma: study of 39 patients and general review]. / Angiomiolipoma renal: estudio de 39 pacientes y revisión de conjunto.

Between 1969 and 1991, 39 patients totalling 48 renal units with renal angiomyolipoma (RAMP) were diagnosed and treated in the Urology Service of the Hospital La Paz. In 5 patients, RAMP was part of a tuberous sclerosis, and was isolated in the remaining ones. RAMP was symptomatic in 32 cases (32/48 = 66.6%), 10 with Wundrelich's syndrome, and in 24 cases (24/48 = 50%) was larger than 4 cm. In the first cases of our series, clinical diagnosis through renal arteriography was achieved in 33% (5/14) cases; later, with the arrival of ultrasound and CAT, pre-operative diagnosis was possible in 88% (30/40) of cases. There was also 2 periods with regard to treatment, the initial one with predominance of radical surgery and the present one of observation and/or conservative surgery depending on size as well as signs and symptoms. Overall, 23 nephrectomies, 2 partial nephrectomies and 6 tumorectomies were performed, while there has been 17 cases (with no histological confirmation) treated with conservative approach and followed-up with ultrasound and CAT. With an average follow up of 8.4 years (range: 0.5-20 years), there has been no local or metastatic relapse of RAMP. There was one case of lymphatic affection which was explained as evidence of RAMP's multifocal condition and not as an indication of malignancy. In 3 patients, histological examination revealed coexistence of RAMP and renal carcinoma; 2 of these patients who underwent nephrectomy are free of disease; the third patient, treated with conservative surgery (tumorectomy), showed renal carcinoma relapsed after 2 years and had it removed. RAMP's incidence, histogenesis, diagnostic methods and treatment criteria are discussed.

[Complications in kidney transplant: our experience in 107 cases]. / Complicaciones en el trasplante renal: nuestra experiencia en 107 casos.

We introduce our case material on urological complications occurred in 107 renal transplants, 102 of which were from corpse donors and 5 form live donors. The techniques used for the reconstruction of the urinary tract were: extravesical ureterocystoneostomy (91 = 85%), pyelo-pyelic anastomosis (15 = 14%) and uretero-ureteral anastomosis (1 = 0.9%). Sixteen cases presented urinary fistula (15%), emphasizing the high percentage of extravasations occurred in the pyelo-pyelic anastomosis (5/15). The resolution of the problem with graft preservation was achieved in 11 cases (68.75%). We encountered 6 ureteral obstructions that resolved favourably in 100% if the cases. Other important complications were: appearance of lymphocele in 8 cases, detection of post-grafting ureteral stenosis in 5 patients, finding asymptomatic vesicoureteral reflux in 16 grafts, and presence of urinary lithiasis in 2 cases. Similarly, we analyzed our series of 16 vascular complications, emphasizing that 15 out of 107 grafts had arterial or venous vascular abnormalities (14.1%), that forced to perform bench surgery in two occasions. Our statistical analysis showed that arterial thrombosis was more frequent than stenosis (8.49% versus 4.71%), and in nearly 80% of the cases (7/9) it happened in grafts concerning more than one arterial vessel, including in this series thrombosis of any of the ramus. The largest loss of grafting were due to this complication, since in 5 out of 9 cases of arterial thrombosis (55.5%) a transplantectomy had to be performed. With regard to venous complications thrombosis is a relatively rare complication, representing in our series less than 1%, usually associated to uncontrollable vascular acute rejection.

Influence of the true number of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin instillations on the prognosis of non-muscle invasive bladder tumors.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze if the true number of BCG instillations applied in non-muscle invasive bladder tumors has any influence on their prognosis as well as other tumor and clinical characteristics: age, sex, different protocols, BCG dose, whether primary or recurrent, solitary or multiple, tumor size G3 or Cis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 324 high grade NMIBC (15 TaG3, 184 T1G3, 125 Cis) out of 1491 cases included in the CUETO database were analyzed. Following 6 post transurethral resection (RTU) BCG instillations, the patients were scheduled to receive one instillation every two weeks (3-6 times), for a total of 9-12 instillations. One third of the dose (27 mg) (112 cases) or total dose of 81 mg (212 cases). Mean follow-up was 59.6 months. Statistical Analysis: Kaplan-Meier, Cox-regression (uni-multivariate). RESULTS: A higher level of recurrence (p = 0.032) and progression (P = .013) risk as well as worse Ca-specific survival (P = .005) were obtained if there were fewer than 12 instillations with the Kaplan-Meier and Cox-regression multivariate analysis. A 27 mg (P = .008) dosage and being a female (P < .001) were independent factors for a higher recurrence risk, but not for progression or Ca-specific survival. The remaining characteristics studied were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: In accordance with the results obtained, we can conclude that the number of BCG instillations applied has some influence on the outcome of high grade NMIBC. The optimum number of instillations as well as their time of application must still be determined. A dose of 27 mg and being a female are predictive factors of recurrence.