A reflection on an adapted approach from face-to-face to telephone consultations in our Urology Outpatient Department during the COVID-19 pandemic - a pathway for change to future practice?

The sudden and unanticipated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) viral pandemic of 2020 and its profound impact on the NHS prompted an almost overnight change in the services we are able to offer our patients to fulfil clinical demands. From March 2020, we have changed outpatient appointments from face-to-face to telephone-led consultations. We have performed an early review of this service to ensure its sustainability during the unknown duration of this current crisis and to establish its potential utility when normal services resume in the future. Our present results show a patient satisfaction of 93%, with 83% happy to have telephone follow-up in the future, and a clinician satisfaction of 82% in the adequacy of the telephone consultation for making a clinical decision. Telephone clinics are a safe and efficient alternative to face-to-face outpatient consultations for many patients, particularly non-complex benign follow-ups.

Enhanced recovery protocols in urological surgery: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: The principles of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols have been developed to optimize care and facilitate recovery after major surgery. The purpose of this systematic review is to present an up-to-date assessment of the perioperative cares in complex urological surgery from the available evidence and ERAS group recommendations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Systematic searches of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library and conference abstracts and bibliographies databases. RESULTS: A total of six studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Two examined the role of ERAS in radical cystectomy, and the rest examined its role in renal surgery (open, laparoscopic or partial nephrectomy). These studies demonstrated a reduction in duration of inpatient stays with no increase in morbidity in ERAS groups compared with traditional care. CONCLUSIONS: ERAS protocols can reduce the length of hospital stay after major urological surgery, without increasing morbidity or mortality.

Major Urological Cancer Surgery for Patients is Safe and Surgical Training Should Be Encouraged During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multicentre Analysis of 30-day Outcomes.

COVID-19 has resulted in the deferral of major surgery for genitourinary (GU) cancers with the exception of cancers with a high risk of progression. We report outcomes for major GU cancer operations, namely radical prostatectomy (RP), radical cystectomy (RC), radical nephrectomy (RN), partial nephrectomy (PN), and nephroureterectomy performed at 13 major GU cancer centres across the UK between March 1 and May 5, 2020. A total of 598 such operations were performed. Four patients (0.7%) developed COVID-19 postoperatively. There was no COVID-19-related mortality at 30 d. A minimally invasive approach was used in 499 cases (83.4%). A total of 228 cases (38.1%) were described as training procedures. Training case status was not associated with a higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score (p = 0.194) or hospital length of stay (LOS; p > 0.05 for all operation types). The risk of contracting COVID-19 was not associated with longer hospital LOS (p = 0.146), training case status (p = 0.588), higher ASA score (p = 0.295), or type of hospital site (p = 0.303). Our results suggest that major surgery for urological cancers remains safe and training should be encouraged during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic provided appropriate countermeasures are taken. These real-life data are important for policy-makers and clinicians when counselling patients during the current pandemic. PATIENT SUMMARY: We collected outcome data for major operations for prostate, bladder, and kidney cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic. These surgeries remain safe and training should be encouraged during the ongoing pandemic provided appropriate countermeasures are taken. Our real-life results are important for policy-makers and clinicians when counselling patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Current best practice in the management of cystitis and pelvic pain.

Bladder pain syndrome (BPS) is a difficult disorder to diagnose and subsequently manage despite having been recognized for more than 200 years according to references in medical literature. There are currently three widely accepted guidelines on BPS: the American Urological Association Guidelines; the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in conjunction with the British Society of Urogynaecologists Guidelines; and the European Association of Urology Guidelines. These guidelines have similarities to each other but also significant differences. This leaves clinicians still confused about this condition and how to appropriately manage the 'real' patient. We review the current guidelines and appropriate literature and put forward a clinically usable management strategy.

Cryotherapy and its applications in the management of urologic malignancies: a review of its use in prostate and renal cancers.

Cryotherapy has been established as an ablative modality for the treatment of a wide range of malignancies. Being minimally invasive, it is associated with less morbidity than conventional extirpative surgical procedures. In recent years, it has been used with success for treating two of the common urologic malignancies, that is, prostate and renal cancer. In this review, we highlight the role of cryotherapy as a treatment modality, the proposed destructive mechanisms of action and the risks of its use in the management of prostate and renal malignancy.