Novel Technique for Proximal Bone Anchoring of Penile Prosthesis After Radial Forearm Free Flap Neophallus.

OBJECTIVE: To describe outcomes of bone anchoring of penile implant in a neophallus with an accompanying video focusing on operative technique and salient tips for surgeons performing these procedures. Penile prosthesis insertion allows individuals with a neophallus to achieve erectile function. Lack of corporal bodies to accommodate cylinders makes anchoring of any prosthesis challenging. Anchoring the device to the pubic bone is one strategy to achieve proximal stabilization. METHODS: A single-institution, retrospective chart review of 10 neophallus patients undergoing penile prosthesis placement from 2006 to 2015 was done. The pubic symphysis is exposed and corticotomy created for placement of the rear tip extender of the implant using a Stryker TPS bone drill. Anchoring sutures through the corticotomy defect, rear tip, and proximal cylinder seat the implant. The remainder of the implantation procedure mirrors that used in native tissue. RESULTS: The overall perioperative complication rate was 20%, with a mean follow-up of 49 months. Seventy percent of the patients required reoperation, with a mean of 1.4 prosthesis revision surgeries per patient. Primary causes of revision included infection, poor fixation of the rear tip, and prosthesis failure. Despite high revision rates, 80% of the patients have fully functioning prosthesis as of last follow-up. Limitations include retrospective study design and the small patient cohort. CONCLUSION: Penile prosthesis placement in the neophallus is feasible and effective. A bone-anchored rear tip is an option to provide proximal stabilization. Continued efforts to minimize the need for revisions are ongoing and necessary.

Low-grade prostate cancer diverges early from high grade and metastatic disease.

Understanding the developmental relationship between indolent and aggressive tumors is central to understanding disease progression and making treatment decisions. For example, most men diagnosed with prostate cancer have clinically indolent disease and die from other causes. Overtreatment of prostate cancer remains a concern. Here we use laser microdissection followed by exome sequencing of low- and high-grade prostate cancer foci from four subjects, and metastatic disease from two of those subjects, to evaluate the molecular relationship of coincident cancer foci. Seventy of 79 (87%) high-confidence somatic mutations in low-grade disease were private to low-grade foci. In contrast, high-grade foci and metastases harbored many of the same mutations. In cases in which there was a metastatic focus, 15 of 80 (19%) high-confidence somatic mutations in high-grade foci were private. Seven of the 80 (9%) were shared with low-grade foci and 65 (82%) were shared with metastatic foci. Notably, mutations in cancer-associated genes and the p53 signaling pathway were found exclusively in high-grade foci and metastases. The pattern of mutations is consistent with early divergence between low- and high-grade foci and late divergence between high-grade foci and metastases. These data provide insights into the development of high-grade and metastatic prostate cancer.