Urology Milestones 2.0: The Future Looks Bright.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: One of the major functions of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is to accredit all approved residency programs. This accreditation system is based on both common and program-specific requirements that form the foundation of all ACGME-accredited training programs. Embedded within the program requirements are the essential elements of the Competencies and Milestones. In this review article, we hope to provide the reader with an overview of the current Milestones and a preview of what lies ahead. RECENT FINDINGS: Milestones for resident education were implemented approximately 7 years ago. The milestones were intended to create a logical trajectory of professional growth which could be measured and tracked for each sub-specialty. However, substantial variability in both content and developmental progression was seen in many specialties. The ACGME has been actively reviewing the Milestones to insure that there exists harmony across all specialties. Much has been learned about the milestones since their implementation. As educators, we need to provide a robust and reproducible system for all to use. The future of resident education, Milestones 2.0, will provide the necessary groundwork for a more user friendly system that will allow adequate evaluation of our trainees.

Solitary breast cancer metastasis to the bladder: an unusual occurrence.

Breast carcinoma is the most common nondermatologic cancer diagnosis in women. Common metastatic sites include lymph nodes, lung, liver, and bone. Metastases to the bladder are exceedingly rare. To date, there are a total of 31 reports of patients diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer to the bladder while living. Only 5 of these patients were reported to have no other site of metastasis, other than axillary nodes at breast surgery. We present the sixth reported case of metastatic breast carcinoma solely to the bladder in a living patient.

The use of bowel for ureteral replacement for complex ureteral reconstruction: long-term results.

PURPOSE: Ileal and intestinal ureteral replacement remains a useful procedure for complex ureteral reconstruction. We examined the long-term safety and efficacy of this procedure, especially in regard to maintaining preoperative renal function and the avoidance of major complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 56 patients underwent intestinal ureteral substitution at our institution between 1979 and 2003, including 52 with an ileal ureteral replacement, 2 with colonic replacement alone and 2 with bilateral ureteral replacement, necessitating ileum and colon for 1 ureter each. The factors reviewed were indications for surgery, type of ureteral replacement, and the presence and type of complications. Followup data included excretory urogram or equivalent imaging results, and measurement of serum chloride, bicarbonate and creatinine before and after the procedure. RESULTS: Overall the complication rate remained low. Mean followup was 6.04 years (median 3.2). Most postoperative complications, which occurred in 10 patients (17.9%), were minor in nature, including pyelonephritis, fever of unknown origin, neuroma, hernia, recurrent urolithiasis and deep venous thrombosis. Major complications occurred in 6 patients (10.5%), including anastomotic stricture, ileal graft obstruction, wound dehiscence and chronic renal failure. Overall patients did not experience worsening renal function after the procedure with equivalent median creatinine before and after the procedure (1.0 mg/dl). CONCLUSIONS: During long-term followup major complications are rare and renal function remains preserved. Ileal and intestinal ureteral substitution remains a safe and efficacious procedure in patients with complex and difficult ureteral issues not amenable to more conservative measures.

A randomized double-blind prospective study evaluating patient tolerance of transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy of the prostate using prebiopsy rofecoxib.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the use of a prebiopsy outpatient analgesia using the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent rofecoxib (Vioxx). Urologists perform approximately 500,000 transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsies of the prostate per year, commonly without analgesia. Recent reports, however, have determined that a significant proportion of patients undergoing TRUS-guided biopsies have pain. METHODS: We performed a prospective randomized double-blind study of 56 men referred for TRUS biopsy of the prostate. They were randomly assigned to receive 50 mg of oral rofecoxib or placebo before TRUS biopsy. After the biopsies, the patients were asked to score the severity of pain by filling out a visual analog pain scale. At the end of 1 week, all patients were asked to mail in a questionnaire regarding the morbidity of the prostate biopsy, including dysuria, hematuria, urinary retention, postbiopsy fever, and rectal bleeding. Analysis was completed to assess whether rofecoxib decreased the patients' perception of pain. The postbiopsy morbidity of patients receiving placebo versus rofecoxib was compared. RESULTS: Thirty-seven percent of patients receiving placebo and 42% of patients receiving rofecoxib had significant pain (5 or greater on the visual analog pain scale). The median pain score of patients receiving rofecoxib (4.0) versus placebo (4.0) was not significantly different statistically (P = 0.3139) using a Wilcoxon rank sum analysis. The incidence of postbiopsy morbidity was not different. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm the findings of previous studies demonstrating that a significant proportion of patients undergoing prostate biopsies have pain. More importantly, we found that prebiopsy rofecoxib did not significantly decrease the patients' severity of discomfort. Finally, the morbidity after biopsy was not increased with the use of rofecoxib.

Clear cell adenocarcinoma of the urinary bladder within a diverticulum.

A rare case of clear cell adenocarcinoma within a bladder diverticulum is presented. A 69-year-old man presented to our institution with gross hematuria. Workup, including computed tomography and cystoscopy, revealed a papillary bladder mass within a bladder diverticulum near the right ureteral orifice. Biopsy of the tumor was performed, and the pathologic examination revealed clear cell adenocarcinoma. He underwent bladder diverticulectomy and remained disease free at 1 year of follow-up. The clinicopathologic characteristics of this entity compared with its most difficult pathologic differential diagnosis, nephrogenic adenoma, are reviewed.