Risk of kidney stones with surgical intervention in living kidney donors.

A kidney stone in a person with a solitary kidney requires urgent attention, which may result in surgical and/or hospital attention. We conducted a matched retrospective cohort study to determine if living kidney donors compared to healthy nondonors have a higher risk of: (i) kidney stones with surgical intervention, and (ii) hospital encounters for kidney stones. We reviewed all predonation charts for living kidney donations from 1992 to 2009 at five major transplant centers in Ontario, Canada, and linked this information to healthcare databases. We selected nondonors from the healthiest segment of the general population and matched 10 nondonors to every donor. Of the 2019 donors and 20 190 nondonors, none had evidence of kidney stones prior to cohort entry. Median follow-up time was 8.4 years (maximum 19.7 years; loss to follow-up <7%). There was no difference in the rate of kidney stones with surgical intervention in donors compared to nondonors (8.3 vs. 9.7 events/10 000 person-years; rate ratio 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.47-1.53). Similarly there was no difference in the rate of hospital encounters for kidney stones (12.1 vs. 16.1 events/10 000 person-years; rate ratio 0.75; 95% CI 0.45-1.24). These interim results are reassuring for the safety of living kidney donation.

Health outcomes for living kidney donors with isolated medical abnormalities: a systematic review.

Individuals with isolated medical abnormalities (IMAs) are undergoing living donor nephrectomy more frequently. Knowledge of health risks for these living donors is important for donor selection, informed consent and follow-up. We systematically reviewed studies with > or = 3 living kidney donors with preexisting IMAs, including older age, obesity, hypertension, reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR), proteinuria, microscopic hematuria and nephrolithiasis. We abstracted data on study and donor characteristics, perioperative outcomes, longer term renal and blood pressure outcomes and mortality and compared them to those of non-IMA donors. We found 22 studies on older donors (n = 987), 10 on obese donors (n = 484), 6 on hypertensive donors (n = 125), 4 on donors with nephrolithiasis (n = 32), 2 on donors with microscopic hematuria and one study each on donors with proteinuria or reduced GFR. Perioperative outcomes for donors with and without IMAs were similar. Few studies reported longer term (> or = 1 year) rates of hypertension, proteinuria or renal function. Studies were frequently retrospective and without a comparison group. Given the variability among studies and their methodological limitations, uncertainties remain regarding long-term medical outcomes for IMA donors. As transplant centers continue to cautiously screen and counsel potential IMA donors, rigorously conducted, longer term prospective cohort studies are needed.

Penile entrapment injury: a case report.

Penile incarceration is a rarely seen injury that requires urgent medical attention and may provide a challenge to even the most experienced emergency and urologic personnel. Described is a novel method of liberating the penis from a nonexpandable metal ring through a combination of multiple puncture wounds and manual compression after failure of other well-described techniques. Included is a treatment algorithm to guide progression of management options in difficult cases.

Robotic pyeloplasty using internet protocol and satellite network-based telesurgery.

BACKGROUND: In North America, the urological community has embraced surgical robotic technology in the performance of complex laparoscopic surgery. The performance of complex long-distance telesurgery requires further investigation prior to clinical application. METHODS: The feasibility of laparoscopic robot-assisted pyeloplasty in a porcine model was assessed using the Zeus robot and the internet protocol virtual private network (IP-VPNe) and satellite links. Eighteen pyeloplasty procedures were performed, using real-time, IP-VPNe and satellite network connection (six of each). Network and objective operative data were collected. RESULTS: Despite network delays and jitter, it was feasible to perform the pyeloplasty procedure without significant detriment in operative time or surgical results compared with real-time surgery. CONCLUSION: The completion of complex tasks such as robotic pyeloplasty is feasible using both land-line and satellite telesurgery. However, the clinical relevance of telesurgery requires further assessment.

Molecular epidemiology of enterovirus outbreaks in Canada during 1991-1992: identification of echovirus 30 and coxsackievirus B1 strains by amplicon sequencing.

The relatedness of enteroviral isolates associated with two recent outbreaks in Canada was assessed using direct sequencing of amplicons derived from a large portion of the 5' nontranslated region (NTR) of the viral genome. The amplicons of 60 echovirus 30 isolates originating from seven different provinces in 1991 were found to share 99% or greater sequence identity. Recent coxsackievirus B1 isolates characterised in the same manner were identical to each other. When the 5' NTR sequence of these isolates was compared to prototype strains a difference of 11-15% in nucleotide composition was observed. These results indicate that the variability of nucleotide sequence found in 5' NTRs can be utilized to identify rapidly enteroviral strains associated with particular outbreaks and distinguish them from other strains and serotypes.