A New Technique for Continent Urinary Diversion: Initial Experience and Description of the Technique.

PURPOSE: Orthotopic neobladder is a well-established surgical solution for continent urinary diversion after radical cystectomy. Nevertheless, it still represents a challenging surgery. Some critical issues of orthotopic bladder substitution include relevant complication rates, renal function impairment, urinary incontinence and patient quality of life. We present a new ileal neobladder technique, Vesuvian Orthotopic Neobladder (VON), performed for the first time at our institution in 2020. The main purpose of this new surgical procedure is to simplify and speed up the reservoir reconstruction through a ten standardized technical steps and obtain an appropriate bladder capacity at the same time.   METHODS: Inclusion criteria were muscle-invasive bladder carcinoma or non muscle-invasive high risk bladder cancer patients fit for bladder substitution. The exclusion criteria were locally advanced cancer, presence of hydronephrosis, renal or hepatic impairment. A chest-abdominal CT scan and urinary cytology were performed before the procedure. Patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, as required. Overall, operative time, bladder reconfiguration time, hospitalization time, catheterization time were recorded. All complications associated with the procedure were classified according to the Clavien Dindo score. The bladder volume was evaluated by ultrasound three months after the surgery.   RESULTS: A total of six male patients diagnosed with non-metastatic muscle-invasive or high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer who underwent radical cystectomy followed by VON reconfiguration were included in the study. Mean age was 62.8 (±4.9) years; all selected patients enjoyed good health conditions (Charlson Comorbidity Index 4-6). One patient presented with high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Four patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Mean overall operative time was 273.3 (±18.6) minutes. Average time for neobladder reconstruction was 63.7 (±16.1) minutes. There were no intraoperative complications. A single case of urethral anastomosis leakage occurred and was treated conservatively. Bladder volume on ultrasound evaluation ranged between 250 and 290 ml.  Day time and nocturnal continence were observed in four and three patients, respectively.   CONCLUSION: The new VON technique is a good alternative to traditional orthotopic bladder procedures. VON reconstruction seems to offer the advantage of speeding up the procedure, reducing intestinal compromise with good storage capacity. The ten surgical steps can be considered a good starting point for further improvements in surgical technique. More robust data regarding the number of procedures and the duration of follow-up is required.

Clinicopathological predictors of positive 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT in PSA-only recurrence of localized prostate cancer following definitive therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the effect of clinicopathological factors on 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT positivity at the time of biochemical recurrence (BCR) of localized prostate cancer (PCa) following definitive therapy. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed our institutional database for PCa patients who had BCR and subsequently underwent 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT between April 2014 and February 2018. A total of 51 patients who were metastasis-free before PSMA imaging and previously treated with definitive therapy (radical prostatectomy or external beam radiotherapy) for localized disease (pT1c-T3b pN0-1 cM0) were included. RESULTS: 37 out of 51 patients (72.5%) had positive 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT scans. Age at diagnosis, Gleason score (GS), D'Amico risk status of PCa, initial PSA level before treatment and PSA doubling time were not associated with PSMA positivity. Pre-scan PSA levels of > 0.2 ng/ml and PSA velocity of ≥ 1 ng/ml/year were significantly associated with increased PSMA positivity, whereas history of androgen deprivation therapy showed a trend towards significance. The optimal cutoffs for distinguishing between positive and negative scans were ≥ 0.71 ng/ml for pre-scan PSA and ≥ 1.22 ng/ml/yr for PSA velocity. In multivariable analysis, log pre-scan PSA and pre-scan PSA level > 0.2 ng/ml remained significant predictors for PSMA positivity, whereas the association of PSA velocity and of ADT was lost. CONCLUSIONS: In BCR of localized PCa following definitive therapy, pre-scan PSA was strongly associated with positive 68Ga-PSMA-11 scan, even at PSA levels ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 ng/ml. Therefore, clinical and pathological predictors of positive 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT in PSA-only recurrence of localized prostate cancer need to be further elucidated.

Periprostatic nerve blockade before transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy: the Ankara Numune experience.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy and morbidity of periprostatic local anesthesia before transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy of the prostate. METHODS: From August 2001 to December 2001, 58 patients underwent transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy at the 2nd Department of Urology, Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital. Fifty patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were randomized into 2 groups of 25 patients each. Group 1 received periprostatic local anesthesia with 1% lidocaine while group 2 received no local anesthesia. Pain scale responses were analyzed for each aspect of the biopsy procedure with a visual analog scale. RESULTS: There was no difference between the 2 groups in pain scores during digital rectal examination, intramuscular injection and probe insertion. The mean pain scores during needle insertion in group 1 receiving periprostatic nerve block and in group 2 receiving no local anesthesia were 3.00 +/- 2.22 and 6.16 +/- 2.85, respectively, and were found to be significantly different (p < 0.001), but morbidity after the biopsy was not statistically different between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: Periprostatic local anesthesia before prostate biopsy is a safe and easy method to increase patient comfort during the procedure.