Sclerotherapy in the Treatment of Hydroceles: A Comprehensive Review of the Efficacy, Types of Sclerosants, and Comparative Outcomes Against Hydrocelectomy.

While hydrocelectomy is the gold-standard for treating hydroceles, it poses an increased risk to patients and a greater burden to the healthcare system. Sclerotherapy is an alternative treatment for hydroceles that involves injecting a sclerosant into the hydrocele under ultrasound guidance. This literature review aimed to assess the types of sclerosants used and how sclerotherapy compares to hydrocelectomy. A literature search was conducted of MEDLINE and EMBASE using the terms "sclerotherapy" and "hydrocelectomy," which yielded 1058 studies, of which 29 met the inclusion criteria. Only studies published after 2000 were included to ensure the most recent information was reviewed. The results showed hydrocele sclerotherapy is done using a variety of sclerosants. The most used agents are polidocanol, phenol, and STS. Of these, phenol had the highest clinical success rate of 96.5%. There was evidence for the use of atypical agents, such as tetracycline antibiotics, which yielded cure rates up to 93%, and alcohol, which was found to be especially useful for treating multiseptated hydroceles. The results comparing sclerotherapy to hydrocelectomy indicated hydrocelectomy to be a more effective method in completely curing hydroceles. However, this came at the cost of more complications. Additionally, sclerotherapy was found to be more advantageous for secondary outcomes, such as healthcare costs and burden to patients. In conclusion, this review shows that while hydrocelectomy is more effective, sclerotherapy is a valuable alternative for treating hydroceles. Due to the lack of standardization among studies, a definitive conclusion cannot be made regarding which sclerosant is best to use.

Cautery artifact understages urothelial cancer at initial transurethral resection of large bladder tumours.

INTRODUCTION: We sought to determine how frequently cautery (thermal) artifact precludes an accurate determination of stage at initial transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) of large bladder tumours. METHODS: We queried our institution's billing data to identify patients who underwent TURBT for large bladder tumours >5cm (CPT 52240) by two urologists at an academic centre from January 2009 through April 2013. Only patients who underwent initial-staging TURBT for urothelial cancer were included. Pathological reports were reviewed for stage, number of separate pathological specimens per TURBT, and presence of cautery artifact. Operative reports were reviewed for whether additional cold cup biopsies were taken of other suspicious areas of the bladder, resident involvement, and type of electrocautery. RESULTS: We identified 119 patients who underwent initial staging TURBT for large tumours. Cautery artifact interfered with accurate staging in 7/119 (6%) of cases. Of these, six patients underwent restaging TURBT, with 50% percent experiencing upstaging to T2 disease. Tumour size, tumour grade, whether additional cold cup biopsies were taken, number of separate pathological specimens sent, and resident involvement were not associated with cautery artifact (all p>0.05). Bipolar resection had a higher rate of cautery artifact 5/42 (12%), compared to monopolar resection 2/77 (2.6%) approaching significance (p=0.095). CONCLUSIONS: Cautery artifact may delay accurate staging at initial TURBT for large tumours by understaging up to 6% of patients.

Perineal Pseudoaneurysm from Traumatic Foley Removal Leads to Recurrent Life-Threatening Hematuria.

Hematuria resulting from urethral traumatic catheter insertion and removal is often encountered. Usually, hematuria resolves with conservative measures. We report a case of traumatic Foley removal leading to intermittent life-threatening hematuria resulting in blood loss anemia requiring multiple transfusions and multiple episodes of hypotension requiring pressors. A pelvic angiogram revealed a pseudoaneurysm of the left pudendal artery, which was treated with microcoil embolization leading to resolution of bleeding.

Effect of diabetes on short- and long-term outcomes after left ventricular assist device implantation.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a frequent co-morbidity in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Implantation of LVADs is an acceptable option for diabetic patients with end-stage heart failure, yet no previous study has specifically examined the clinical outcomes of this patient population. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on all patients who underwent LVAD insertion at a single institution from June 17, 1996 to April 14, 2004. Patients were divided into 2 groups: diabetics (DM) and non-diabetics (NDM). The groups were compared with regard to demographics, etiology of heart failure, body mass index (BMI), intensive care unit (ICU) stay, early mortality (< or =30 days), bridge-to-transplantation rate and post-LVAD and post-transplant survival. RESULTS: Two hundred one patients were identified. Of these, 49 (24.4%) had DM. Compared with the NDM group, DM patients had a higher mean body mass index (30.1 +/- 6.0 vs 26.1 +/- 4.8, p < 0.001) and a higher proportion of hypertension (57.4% vs 19.7%, p < 0.001). Although post-LVAD survival was similar, post-transplant survival in DM patients was significantly lower compared with NDM patients, with 1-, 3-, 5- and 7-year actuarial survival rates of 86.9%, 71.0%, 56.5% and 56.5% vs 90.5%, 88.4%, 83.0% and 80.7% (p = 0.020), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Carefully selected diabetic patients can be successfully bridged to transplantation using LVADs with comparable outcomes to non-diabetic patients. Reasons for diminished post-transplant survival in this cohort are unclear and necessitate the conductance of multi-institutional studies to evaluate outcomes.

A decade experience of cardiac retransplantation in adult recipients.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac retransplantation is considered to be the best therapeutic option for a failing cardiac allograft. However, poor outcomes with retransplantation have previously been reported, a factor that raises important ethical, logistic and financial issues given the limited organ donor supply. METHODS: Seven hundred sixty-six adult patients underwent cardiac transplantation for end-stage heart failure at our institution from 1992 to 2002. Of these, 41 (5.4%) were retransplants. Variables examined included recipient and donor demographics, indications for retransplant, comorbidities, cytomegalovirus (CMV) serology status, left ventricular assist device use before transplant, donor ischemic time, rate of early mortality (within 30 days), and post-transplantation survival rate. RESULTS: Indications for cardiac retransplant were transplant-related coronary artery disease in 37, acute rejection in 3, and other causes in 1. The mean interval between transplantation and retransplantation was 5.9 +/- 3.4 years. Baseline characteristics such as recipient age, gender, CMV serology status, and donor age were similar in the primary transplant and retransplant groups. Early mortality after transplantation was comparable between the 2 groups, but post-transplant survival was significantly lower in retransplant patients compared with primary transplants with 1-, 3-, 5-, and 7-year actuarial survival rates of 72.2%, 66.3%, 47.5%, and 40.7% vs. 85.1%, 79.2%, 72.9%, and 66.8%, respectively (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac retransplantation offers short-term outcomes similar to primary transplantation but lower long-term survival rates. Non-retransplant surgical options should also be considered in these patients. Careful patient selection and risk-assessment is necessary to govern appropriate allocation of limited donor organs.