The current diagnosis of superficial bladder cancer must be reconsidered

The high recurrence and progression rates in superficial bladder cancer are partially related to the deficiencies of the standard conventional diagnostic modalities. Therefore, innovative noninvasive and invasive detection devices have been studied during the last decade. New diagnostic urine markers are under intensive investigation in order to exclude the presence of urothelial cancer, but the value of all these tests is still insufficiently validated in diagnosis and follow-up. With the introduction of 5-amino-levulinic acid fluorescence endoscopy, the efficacy of the detection device has been significantly improved. Flat lesions such as carcinoma in situ can be completely detected besides exophytic tumors. This is of particular importance because the fate of the patient depends to an important extent on these tumor entities. Furthermore, first experimental results using imaging devices like optical coherence tomography and confocal laser scanning microscopy promise new powerful noninvasive tools for `optical sectioning' of the bladder

The science of clinical practice: disease diagnosis or patient prognosis? Evidence about "what is likely to happen" should shape clinical practice.

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis is the traditional basis for decision-making in clinical practice. Evidence is often lacking about future benefits and harms of these decisions for patients diagnosed with and without disease. We propose that a model of clinical practice focused on patient prognosis and predicting the likelihood of future outcomes may be more useful. DISCUSSION: Disease diagnosis can provide crucial information for clinical decisions that influence outcome in serious acute illness. However, the central role of diagnosis in clinical practice is challenged by evidence that it does not always benefit patients and that factors other than disease are important in determining patient outcome. The concept of disease as a dichotomous 'yes' or 'no' is challenged by the frequent use of diagnostic indicators with continuous distributions, such as blood sugar, which are better understood as contributing information about the probability of a patient's future outcome. Moreover, many illnesses, such as chronic fatigue, cannot usefully be labelled from a disease-diagnosis perspective. In such cases, a prognostic model provides an alternative framework for clinical practice that extends beyond disease and diagnosis and incorporates a wide range of information to predict future patient outcomes and to guide decisions to improve them. Such information embraces non-disease factors and genetic and other biomarkers which influence outcome. SUMMARY: Patient prognosis can provide the framework for modern clinical practice to integrate information from the expanding biological, social, and clinical database for more effective and efficient care

Antibiotic susceptibility and imaging findings of the causative microorganisms responsible for acute urinary tract infection in children: a five-year single center study

PurposeWe studied the differences in the antibiotic susceptibilities of the microorganisms that causeing urinary tract infections (UTI) in children to obtain useful information on appropriate drug selection for childhood UTI.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the antibiotic susceptibilities of 429 microorganisms isolated from 900 patients diagnosed with UTI in the Department of Pediatrics, Chungbuk National University Hospital, from 2003 to 2008.ResultsThe most common causative microorganisms for UTI were Escherichia coli (81.4%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (8.4%), Enterobacter spp. (1.7%), and Proteus spp. (0.4%). E. coli showed relatively high susceptibility as compared to imipenem (100%), amikacin (97.7%), aztreonam (97.9%), cefepime (97.7%), and ceftriaxone (97.1%), while it showed relatively low susceptibility to gentamicin (GM) (79.0%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) (68.7%), ampicillin/sulbactam (33.0%), and ampicillin (AMP) (28.6%). There were no significant differences in the image findings for causative microorganisms.ConclusionGram-negative organisms showed high susceptibility to amikacin and third-generation cephalosporins, and low susceptibility to AMP, GM, and TMP/SMX. Therefore, the use of AMP or TMP/SMX as the first choice in empirical and prophylactic treatment of childhood UTI in Korea should be reconsidered and investigated further

Prediction of High-Grade Vesicoureteral Reflux after Pediatric Urinary Tract Infection: External Validation Study of Procalcitonin-Based Decision Rule

BACKGROUND: Predicting vesico-ureteral reflux (VUR) 653 at the time of the first urinary tract infection (UTI) would make it possible to restrict cystography to high-risk children. We previously derived the following clinical decision rule for that purpose: cystography should be performed in cases with ureteral dilation and a serum procalcitonin level 650.17 ng/mL, or without ureteral dilatation when the serum procalcitonin level 650.63 ng/mL. The rule yielded a 86% sensitivity with a 46% specificity. We aimed to test its reproducibility. STUDY DESIGN: A secondary analysis of prospective series of children with a first UTI. The rule was applied, and predictive ability was calculated. RESULTS: The study included 413 patients (157 boys, VUR 653 in 11%) from eight centers in five countries. The rule offered a 46% specificity (95% CI, 41-52), not different from the one in the derivation study. However, the sensitivity significantly decreased to 64% (95%CI, 50-76), leading to a difference of 20% (95%CI, 17-36). In all, 16 (34%) patients among the 47 with VUR 653 were misdiagnosed by the rule. This lack of reproducibility might result primarily from a difference between derivation and validation populations regarding inflammatory parameters (CRP, PCT); the validation set samples may have been collected earlier than for the derivation one. CONCLUSIONS: The rule built to predict VUR 653 had a stable specificity (ie. 46%), but a decreased sensitivity (ie. 64%) because of the time variability of PCT measurement. Some refinement may be warranted

Can we further improve the quality of nephro-urological care in children with myelomeningocele?

Myelomeningocele (MMC) results from a failure of normal neural tube fusion in early fetal development. Retrospective, observational study of medical data of 54 children treated in Pediatric Nephrology and Urology Clinics for five years was performed. The following data were analyzed: serum creatinine, eGFR, urine analysis, renal scintigraphy (RS), renal ultrasound, and urodynamics. Mean age of studied population: 12.3 years, median of eGFR at the beginning and at the end of survey was 110.25 and 116.5 mL/min/1.73 m2 accordingly. Median of frequency of urinary tract infections (fUTI): 1.2 episodes/year. In 24 children: low-pressure, in 30 children: high-pressure bladder was noted. Vesicouretral reflux (VUR) was noted in 23 children (42.6%). fUTI were more common in high-grade VUR group. High-grade VURs were more common in group of patients with severe renal damage. At the end of the survey 11.1% children were qualified to higher stages of chronic kidney disease. Renal parenchyma damage progression in RS was noted in 22.2% children. Positive VUR history, febrile recurrent UTIs, bladder wall trabeculation, and older age of the patients constitute risk factors of abnormal renal scans. More than 2.0 febrile, symptomatic UTIs annually increase by 5.6-fold the risk of severe renal parenchyma damage after five years

A Comprehensive Analysis of 174 Febrile Patients Admitted to Okayama University Hospital

Primary care physicians often encounter patients with fever of unknown origin and without apparent causes. Recent advances in laboratory medicine have facilitated diagnostic procedures;however, it is still difficult to determine the critical febrile factor at an early stage. We reviewed the medical records of 174 patients who were admitted due to a chief complaint of fever (＞37.5℃) to our hospital during the period from 2004 to 2010. The patients were categorized into patients with infection, inflammation, neoplasm and drug-induced fever. Based on the analysis done by category, it was revealed that the patient's age, body temperature and duration of fever were closely related to the final diagnosis. Serum CRP levels were significantly low in the nonbacterial infection group, while serum levels of sIL-2R were high in neoplasm and drug-induced cases. CRP level on admission was weakly but significantly correlated with body temperature, while duration of fever was inversely related to body temperature. The effectiveness of PET-CT and tissue biopsy for diagnosis was considerably high, particularly in the categories of neoplasm and nonspecific inflammation, respectively, though the effectiveness of bacterial culture was low. Thus, a careful review of physical and laboratory information including body temperature, CRP level, duration of fever, gender difference and history of medication is indispensable for diagnosis. Stepwise categorization and disease classification by comprehensive and systemic checkup are very helpful for determining the causes of fever

Focused Assessment with Sonography for Urinary Schistosomiasis (FASUS)-pilot evaluation of a simple point-of-care ultrasound protocol and short training program for detecting urinary tract morbidity in highly endemic settings.

BACKGROUND: Urogenital schistosomiasis (UGS) causes inflammation and fibrosis of the urinary tract. In resource-limited settings, affordable tools for morbidity assessment in clinical care are needed. Point-of-care ultrasound has not yet been validated for UGS-related pathology. METHODS: We developed a protocol for Focused Assessment with Sonography for Urinary Schistosomiasis (FASUS), assessing pathology of the bladder wall, ureters and kidneys. Following standardized training, two clinicians performed FASUS on children and adults with hematuria in Lambaréné, Gabon. Recorded ultrasound clips were remotely reviewed by two ultrasound experts as a diagnostic reference. RESULTS: In 2015 and 2016, scans were performed in 118 patients. The image quality was sufficient in 90% of bladder views and more than 97% of kidney views. UGS-compatible pathology was detected in 51/118 (43%) by the operator and in 46/107 (43%) by the experts among baseline scans of sufficient quality. Inter-rater agreement between operators and experts was very good (κ > 0.8) for hydronephrosis and good (κ > 0.6) for bladder wall thickening. CONCLUSIONS: FASUS is a promising clinical, point-of-care tool for detecting UGS-related urinary tract morbidity in symptomatic patients. Based on larger validation studies, appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms for the use of FASUS should be established

Schistosomiasis – Updating Technologies and Diagnostic Approaches in Surveillance Strategies and Clinical Management

Schistosoma infection is a poverty-related parasitic infection, being the second most important neglected tropical disease in the world after malaria. Schistosomiasis is caused by five distinct Schistosoma species distributed in tropical and subtropical areas. But, imported cases can also be seen in non - endemic areas. Human populations acquire infection after exposure to contaminated water collections. Schistosoma infection falls on a large spectrum of clinical manifestations that ranges from absence of signs and symptoms to severe forms of disease. Although morbidity and mortality have been reduced along the years after use of mass drug administration (MDA) in endemic areas, large populations are still at risk of disability-related outcomes on daily basis. Recently, a great deal of debate has been done over two main issues in schistosomiasis management in endemic and non-endemic areas: how to accurately diagnosis Schistosoma infections pre and post-therapy in addition to assess morbidity level. Adoption of promising new diagnostic tools and development of new markers of disease progression might change the current scenario by improving schistosomiasis clinical management in both community and institutional settings