Evaluation of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio prior to prostate biopsy to predict biopsy histology: Results of 1836 patients

Introduction: We evaluate the role of NLR prior to prostate biopsy to predict biopsy histology and Gleason score in patients with prostate cancer. Methods: In this retrospective study, we evaluated data of patients underwent prostate biopsy between May 2005 and March 2015. We collected the following data: age, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), biopsy histology, Gleason score (GS) in prostate cancer patients, neutrophil counts, and lymphocyte counts. Patients were grouped as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), prostate cancer, and prostatitis. The Chi square test was used to compare categorical variables and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied for continuous variables. Results: Data of 1836 patients were investigated. The mean age, total PSA and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) of the population were 66.8 +/- 8.17 years, 9.38 +/- 4.7 ng/dL, and 3.11 +/- 1.71, respectively. Patients were divided as follows: 625 in the group with BPH history, 600 in the prostatitis group, and 611 in the prostate cancer histology group. The mean NLR of the prostatitis group was higher compared to the prostate cancer and BPH groups (p = 0.0001). The mean NLR of the prostate cancer group was significantly higher compared to the BPH group (p = 0.002). The GS 8-10 group had a significantly higher mean NLR compared to GS 5-6 (3.64 vs. 2.54, p = 0.0001) and GS 7 (3.64 vs. 2.58, p = 0.0001) patients. Conclusions: NLR was found to differ with regard to histology of prostate biopsy and higher GS was associated with higher NLR in patients with prostate cancer. However prostatitis prevents the use of NLR in predicting prostate cancer before a prostate biopsy. Also, the retrospective nature and lack of multivariate analysis in this study somewhat limits the relevance of these results

Attitudes of urologists on metabolic evaluation for urolithiasis: outcomes of a global survey from 57 countries

Although stone disease is an important health problem with high incidence and recurrence rates, it is a preventable disease. Attitudes and practices of urologists regarding the prevention of recurrence continue to be a subject of debate. In this context, an online survey study was conducted involving 305 urologists from 57 different countries. The first 7 questions collected demographic data about the urologists and the remaining 23 questions were about the recurrence and metabolic evaluation, medical treatment, and follow-up of urinary stone disease. Most urologists (85.2%) thought that metabolic examination was important. Approximately one-third of the participants (34.1%) performed 24-hour urine analysis and stone analysis was ordered by 87.5% of the urologists. Metabolic analysis was performed for all patients by 14.7% of the participants. For pediatric patients this rate was 68.5%, and for adults with recurrence the rate was 81.6%. Reasons cited by the urologists for not performing metabolic analysis included not feeling confident doing so (18.3%), having limited facilities in their hospital (26.5%), having an excessive daily workload (31.8%), patient-related factors (27.5%), and referring patients to other departments for metabolic evaluation (20.9%). Although majority of the responding urologists do consider the metabolic analysis as vital important, they seemed not to be willing to perform these tests with the same degree of enthusiasm in their daily practice. Our results show that urologists need support in performing and interpreting 24-hour urine analysis, improving their knowledge levels, and communicating with patients. Urology residency training should focus more on the prevention of urinary stone recurrence in addition to the surgical training

Evaluation of the optimal duration for retrograde intrarenal stone surgery to prevent postoperative complications

Objective To evaluate retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) outcomes and to determine the effect of operative time on complications of RIRS. Methods Patients undergoing RIRS for renal stones were evaluated. These patients were divided into two groups according to the operation time (Group 160 minutes). Peroperative outcomes such as fluoroscopy time, stone-free rates, complications and duration of hospitalization were compared. Results Group 1 consisted of 264 patients and Group 2 consisted of 297 patients. SFR rates, duration of hospitalization, and postoperative urinary tract infection rates were similar in both groups. Fluoroscopy time was 7.8 +/- 7.3 (0-49) sec in group 1 and 13.1 +/- 9.8 (0-81) sec in group 2. Complications according to modified Clavien-Dindo classification system (MCDCS) were 13 and 32 patients (Grade 1), 31 and 63 patients (Grade 2), 1 and 1 patient (Grade 3) in group 1 and 2, respectively. There was statistical difference between the two groups in terms of duration of fluoroscopy time and the MCDCS. Although duration of hospitalization and UTI rates were higher in group 2, no statistical significance was observed among groups. Conclusion Limiting the operation time to 60 minutes in RIRS seems to be important in reducing postoperative complications

Management of Priapism: Results of a Nationwide Survey and Comparison with International Guidelines

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate current urologic practice regarding the management of priapism in Turkey and compare with international guidelines. Methods: Urologists and urology residents were invited to an online survey consisting of 30 multiple-choice questions on priapism-related clinical practices that were considered most important and relevant to practices by using Google Forms. Results: Total number of responses was 340. Respondents reported that they recorded a detailed patient’s medical history and physical examination findings (n = 340, 100%) and laboratory testing, which includes corporal blood gas analysis (n = 323, 95%). Participants announced that they performed Doppler ultrasound for 1/4 cases (n = 106, 31%), but 22% of the participants (n = 75) replied that they performed in >75% of cases. Participants (n = 311, 91%) responded that the first-line treatment of ischemic priapism is decompression of the corpus cavernosum. Moreover, most respondents (n = 320, 94%) stated that sympathomimetic injection drugs should be applied as the second step. About three-quarters of respondents (n = 247, 73%) indicated adrenaline as their drug of choice. Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors seems to be the most preferred drug for stuttering priapism (n = 141, 41%). Participants (n = 284, 84%) replied that corpora-glanular shunts should be preferred as the first. A large number of participants (n = 239, 70%) declared that magnetic resonance imaging can be performed in cases with delayed (>24 hours) priapism to diagnose corporal necrosis. Most of the participants (84%) responded that penile prosthesis should be preferred to shunts in cases with delayed (>48 hours) priapism. Conclusion: It would be appropriate to improve the training offered by professional associations and to give more training time to the management of priapism during residency