Urethral carcinoma after skin substitution urethral reconstruction.

Urethral cancer after urethral reconstruction is an under-recognized, uncommon disease associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The survival rates of patients with carcinoma of the bulbar urethra are as low as 20%-30%. Stricture recurrence and unrecognized malignant changes present prior to reconstruction are major risk factors for urethral cancer. Skin substitution urethroplasty is subjected to higher rates of recurrence, which lends to the potential for carcinogenesis. We present a case of a 59-year-old male who underwent multi-stage skin substitution urethroplasty who developed urethral carcinoma 20 years later.

Metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma to the forearm without identifiable primary renal mass.

Kidney cancer is the ninth most common malignancy in the United States. Most kidney cancers are clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and arise as solid tumors from kidney parenchyma. In the setting of metastatic disease, a primary renal tumor is usually identified, and metastases are often to lung, bone, liver, and brain. Metastatic RCC without an identifiable solid kidney tumor is exceedingly rare. We report the case of a 52 year old male with a rare cutaneous RCC metastasis without an identifiable primary renal tumor.

Perioperative management of cold agglutinin autoimmune hemolytic anemia in an older adult undergoing radical cystectomy for bladder cancer.

Patients diagnosed with bladder cancer are most frequently older adults who have multiple chronic conditions. Frequently, new conditions are unmasked during preoperative evaluation for surgery such as radical cystectomy. We report the case of an 85 year old male with muscle invasive bladder cancer who was concurrently diagnosed with cold agglutinin hemolytic anemia. This case demonstrates the importance of close attention to underlying chronic conditions in older adults considering major cancer surgery and the need for multidisciplinary management in medically complex cases.

Primary small cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract: A case report.

Small cell carcinoma of the urinary tract is an aggressive malignancy that comprises less than 1% of urinary bladder cancers. The renal pelvis and ureter, also lined by urothelium, are rare sites for small cell carcinoma. The diagnosis and staging of upper tract cancer are difficult due to the need for small, atraumatic instrument to access the upper tract. There are fewer than 40 reported cases of upper urinary tract small cell carcinoma. These include both pure and variant histologies. We present the management of a 72 year old male with small cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract.

Ex-vivo partial nephrectomy after living donor nephrectomy: Surgical technique for expanding kidney donor pool.

Renal transplantation has profound improvements in mortality, morbidity, and overall quality of life compared to renal replacement therapy. This report aims to illustrate the use of ex-vivo partial nephrectomy in a patient with a renal angiomyolipoma prior to living donor transplantation. The surgical outcomes of the donor nephrectomy and recipient transplantation are reported with 2 years of follow-up. Both the donor and recipient are healthy and without any significant comorbidities. In conclusion, urologic techniques such as partial nephrectomy can be used to expand the living donor pool in carefully selected and well informed transplant recipients. Our experience demonstrated a safe and positive outcome for both the recipient and donor, and is consistent with other reported outcomes in the literature.

A Multi-institutional Evaluation of the Management and Outcomes of Long-segment Urethral Strictures.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the treatment options and surgical outcomes of long-segment urethral strictures-a review of the largest, international, multi-institutional series. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed of patients treated with strictures ≥8 cm at 8 international centers. Endpoints analyzed included surgical complications and recurrence. RESULTS: Four hundred sixty-six patients were identified. Treatment intervals ranged from December 27, 1984 to November 9, 2013. Dorsal onlay buccal mucosal graft (BMG) was the most common procedure (223, 47.9%); others included first- and second-stage Johanson urethroplasty (162 [34.8%] and 56 [12%], respectively), fasciocutaneous (FC) flaps (8, 1.7%), and a combination flap and graft (17, 3.6%). Overall success was achieved in 361 patients (77.5%) with a mean follow-up of 20 months. Second-stage Johanson urethroplasty was found to have a higher recurrence rate compared with that of 1-stage BMG urethroplasty (35.7% vs 17.5%, respectively; P <.01). This was also true in cases of lichen sclerosus (14.0% vs 47.8%, respectively; P <.01). Otherwise, success rates were similar. Urethroplasties performed with FC flaps had a higher complication rate compared with those without (32% vs 14%, respectively; P = .02). Prior dilation or urethrotomy, higher number of prior dilations or urethrotomies, abnormal voiding cystourethrogram, and skin grafts all portend a higher recurrence rate. On logistic regression analysis, only second-stage Johanson had an increased odds ratio of recurrence compared with that of BMG (2.82 [1.41-5.86]). CONCLUSION: Long-segment strictures can be treated with high success rates in experienced hands. BMG was more successful than second-stage Johanson urethroplasty. FC flaps, although successful, had high complication rates.

Staged urethroplasty in the management of complex anterior urethral stricture disease.

Staged buccal mucosa graft urethroplasty has emerged as a reliable procedure for difficult anterior urethral strictures not amenable to one-stage graft or flap reconstruction. It has primarily been used for strictures and/or fistulae occurring after previous surgery for hypospadias or those related to lichen sclerosus (LS). Success rates in these patient populations have improved when compared to earlier techniques. However, prior studies have demonstrated a number of patients requiring more than two procedures to complete the reconstruction, as well as some who have been content with their voiding pattern after the first operation and therefore elected to forego second stage tubularization. In this setting, we have reviewed the surgical technique and summarized previously published work. There may be an opportunity to complete more of these repairs in two operations using additional oral mucosa at the time of tubularization.

Analytical and biological validation of a multiplex immunoassay for acute kidney injury biomarkers.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a dynamic process that can involve inflammatory, hypoxic, and structural changes to the kidney. We evaluated a multiplex panel of markers representing different AKI mechanisms as a tool to provide integrated assessment of AKI status in a single assay. METHODS: Urinary cystatin C (CysC), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) were measured by multiplex electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Analytical performance was compared to the biological and pathological variation of these markers in human samples. RESULTS: Linearity was established over a 3- to 4-log range for all markers, which spanned the reference ranges established from healthy donors. Imprecision was below 15%, comparing favorably with the observed biological variation of these markers. Control patients fell within donor-derived reference ranges for most markers, but a subset of patients showed CysC and KIM-1 elevations in the absence of documented AKI. CONCLUSION: The multiplex assay is reliable for simultaneous quantitation of CysC, IL-18, KIM-1 and NGAL in human urine, and performs at levels sufficient for clinical application. The observed differences in biological variability and baseline levels suggest that clinical strategies to detect AKI will need to vary depending upon the specific markers used.

Treatment of debilitating cremasteric synkinesia with intracremasteric botulinum-A toxin injections.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the surgical technique of botulinum-A toxin injection into the cremasteric muscles of a 26-year-old male with bilateral cremasteric muscle spasms causing significant pain and limitation of activity. This pain has been refractory to multiple previous therapies, including inguinal nerve blocks and bilateral orchidopexies with cremasteric muscle lysis. Multiple imaging modalities revealed no obvious pathology for this significant bilateral pain. Genitourinary examination revealed hyper-retractile testes with changes consistent with bilateral orchidopexies and was otherwise normal. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The patient has undergone 3 outpatient staged injections of botulinum-A toxin into the bilateral cremasteric muscles after spermatic cord block with 1% lidocaine. One hundred units of botulinum-A toxin mixed into 10 mL of sterile normal saline were used for each injection staged 6 weeks apart. RESULTS: The patient tolerated all injections without apparent side effects. After the first injection into his left side, his baseline pain scores were reduced from 8 out of 10 to 3 out of 10 on a standard 10-point pain scale. He reported maximal efficacy 2 weeks after each injection, with dissipation over 4-6 weeks. After 2 left-sided and 1 right-sided injections, his baseline pain was 2 to 4 of 10, equal bilaterally, and he was back to rigorous activity with some limitations. CONCLUSION: Direct injection of botulinum-A toxin into the cremasteric muscle is a viable treatment option for the rare patient with debilitating and painful cremasteric spasms refractory to other therapies.

Partial nephrectomy without hilar control or cooling: longitudinal data over 5 years.

INTRODUCTION: Partial nephrectomy for the management of small renal masses has become a well accepted technique. Contemporary series have shown its safety and efficacy in well selected patients. We present our experience of partial nephrectomies exclusively without hilar control or parenchymal cooling stratified into imperative and elective patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed our experience in 124 patients who underwent partial nephrectomy between December 1995 and September 2003. Patients were followed with regular radiographic and laboratory studies at 6 months postsurgery and then annually. Renal function was followed by serum creatinine. RESULTS: Of the 124 patients, 105 were performed without hilar control or renal cooling and met our criteria for analysis. The operation was elective in 78 patients (74%) and imperative in 27 patients (26%). Mean specimen size was 2.8 cm for elective cases and 3.3 cm for imperative cases. The mean estimated blood loss was 606 533 cc and 950 656 cc in elective and imperative cases respectively. Surgical margins were positive in 6.6% with an overall recurrence rate of 3.8%. At a mean follow up time of 31 months and 23 months in the elective and imperative groups respectively, there were no statistically significant differences between baseline and follow up serum creatinine levels in either elective or imperative cases at time intervals of 0-12, 13-24, 25-48 and > 48 months. The intraoperative complication rate was 5.7% and the postoperative complication rate was 4.7% including three patients requiring blood transfusions. CONCLUSION: Partial nephrectomy without hilar control or renal cooling is a safe and reliable method of removing small renal tumors. In this cohort, intraoperative blood loss is slightly higher than historical series. However, blood transfusion rates, complications, renal function and oncologic outcomes are comparable to historical series of patients in whom vascular control and renal cooling are used.