Rural Medicare patients less likely to undergo penile prosthesis implantation following radical cystectomy.

INTRODUCTION Erectile dysfunction is common after radical cystectomy; however, research on sexual dysfunction after this procedure is relatively scarce. Our goal was to evaluate the incidence of penile prosthesis implantation after radical cystectomy, with a focus on rural/urban disparity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used the SEER-Medicare database to identify patients with bladder cancer diagnosed between 1991-2009 who had a radical cystectomy (ICD-9 codes 57.7, 57.71, 57.79). The outcome was placement of a penile implant (ICD-9 codes 64.95 and 64.97). Covariates extracted included rural county status, age, race, ethnicity, marital status, geographic region, socioeconomic status, Charlson comorbidity, pathologic cancer stage, and type of urinary diversion. RESULTS: A total of 95 penile implants were performed in the 11,477 cystectomy patients (0.83%). Patients who had a penile implant were mostly from urban counties (85.1%) and in the Western region of the United States (83.9%). After controlling for covariates, rural patients who underwent an ileal conduit for urinary diversion were less likely to have a penile prosthesis procedure after radical cystectomy. CONCLUSIONS: Penile prosthetic procedures are uncommon in bladder cancer patients who have undergone radical cystectomy; therefore, sexual health should be considered and discussed with patients after radical cystectomy.

Redefining revision total hip arthroplasty based on hospital admission status.

This study examined patient demographics, length of hospital stay, and discharge disposition in those undergoing nonelective revision total hip arthroplasty (rTHA) vs elective rTHA. Data from 23 000 patients with hip revisions from 2005 through 2007 were extracted from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample database. We examined patient admission status, demographics, length of stay, and discharge location. We found that patients undergoing nonelective rTHA were older, were female, had more comorbidities, stayed an excess of 1.61 days in the hospital, and required a skilled care facility after discharge compared with those undergoing elective rTHA. We found that rTHA outcomes varied based on patient hospital admission status. Patients who elected to have rTHA had less comorbidities, cost, and likelihood of being discharged into a skilled care facility.