11 research outputs found

    A BURST-BAUS consensus document for best practice in the conduct of scrotal exploration for suspected testicular torsion : the Finding consensus for orchIdopeXy In Torsion (FIX-IT) study

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    Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Jacqueline Emkes and Rachel Jury for their contribution to our protocol development with respect to patient and public involvement. Similarly, the authors would like to thank Dr Matthew Coward, Department of Urology, University of North Carolina, and Dr Selcuk Sarikaya, Department of Urology, University of Ankara, for their international perspectives and input to our study protocol. We would like to acknowledge the BAUS Trustees for allowing this collaboration. Unrelated to this work, The BURST Research Collaborative would like to acknowledge funding from the BJUI, the Urology Foundation, Ferring Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Rosetrees Trust and Action Bladder Cancer UK. Veeru Kasivisvanathan is an Academic Clinical Lecturer funded by the United Kingdom National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. PubMed Indexed Collaborative Authors: Matthew Coward, Selcuk Sarikaya, Jacqueline Emkes, Rachel Jury. Research Funding Department of Health National Institute for Health Research National Institute for Health Research Rosetrees Trust Ferring Pharmaceuticals Urology Foundation University of North CarolinaPeer reviewedPublisher PD

    Urological cancer care pathways: development and use in the context of systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines

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    Background: Making healthcare treatment decisions is a complex process involving a broad stakeholder base including patients, their families, health professionals, clinical practice guideline developers and funders of healthcare. Methods: This paper presents a review of a methodology for the development of urological cancer care pathways (UCAN care pathways), which reflects an appreciation of this broad stakeholder base. The methods section includes an overview of the steps in the development of the UCAN care pathways and engagement with clinical content experts and patient groups. Results: The development process is outlined, the uses of the urological cancer care pathways discussed and the implications for clinical practice highlighted. The full set of UCAN care pathways is published in this paper. These include care pathways on localised prostate cancer, locally advanced prostate cancer, metastatic prostate cancer, hormone-resistant prostate cancer, localised renal cell cancer, advanced renal cell cancer, testicular cancer, penile cancer, muscle invasive and metastatic bladder cancer and non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Conclusion: The process provides a useful framework for improving urological cancer care through evidence synthesis, research prioritisation, stakeholder involvement and international collaboration. Although the focus of this work is urological cancers, the methodology can be applied to all aspects of urology and is transferable to other clinical specialties.11 page(s

    Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

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    Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

    Prioritising urological surgery in the COVID-19 Era: A global reflection on guidelines

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    Background: Determining whether members follow guidelines, including guidelines prepared to help direct practice management during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is an important goal for medical associations. Objective: To determine whether practice of urologists is in line with guidelines for the management of common urological conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic produced by leading (inter)national urological associations. Design, setting, and participants: Self-selected urologists completed a voluntary survey available online from March 27 to April 11, 2020 and distributed globally by the Societe Internationale d'Urologie. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Responses to two survey questions on the (1) management of 14 common urological procedures and (2) priority scoring of 10 common urological procedures were evaluated by practice setting and geographical region using chi-square and one-way analysis of variance analyses, respectively. Results and limitations: There were 2494 respondents from 76 countries. Oncological conditions were prioritised over benign conditions, and benign conditions were deferred when feasible and safe. Oncological conditions with the greatest malignant potential were prioritised over less aggressive cancers. Respondents from Europe were least likely to postpone and most likely to prioritise conditions identified by guidelines as being of the highest priority. Respondents' priority scoring of urological procedures closely matched the priorities assigned by guidelines. The main limitation of this study is that respondents were self-selected, and access to the survey was limited by language and technology barriers. Conclusions: Prioritisation and management of urological procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic are in line with current guidelines. The greatest agreement was reported in Europe. Observed differences may be related to limited resources in some settings. Patient summary: When deciding how best to treat patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, urologists are taking into account both expert recommendations and the availability of important local resources.SIU Central Offic

    Comet assay measures of DNA damage are predictive of bladder cancer cell treatment sensitivity in vitro and outcome in vivo

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    Bladder cancer patients suffer significant treatment failure, including high rates of recurrence and poor outcomes for advanced disease. If mechanisms to improve tumour cell treatment sensitivity could be identified and/or if tumour response could be predicted, it should be possible to improve local-control and survival. Previously, we have shown that radiation-induced DNA damage, measured by alkaline Comet assay (ACA), correlates bladder cancer cell radiosensitivity in vitro. In the present study we firstly show that modified-ACA measures of cisplatin and mitomycin-C-induced damage also correlate bladder cancer cell chemosensitivity in vitro, with essentially the same rank order for chemosensitivity as for radiosensitivity. Furthermore, ACA studies of radiation-induced damage in different cell-DNA substrates (nuclei, nucleoids & intact parent cells) suggest that it is a feature retained in the prepared nucleoids that is responsible for the relative damage sensitivity of bladder cancer cells, suggestive of differences in the organisation of DNA within resistant vs. sensitive cells. Secondly, we show that ACA analysis of biopsies from bladder tumours reveal that reduced DNA damage sensitivity associates with poorer treatment outcomes, notably that tumours with a reduced damage response show a significant association with local recurrence of non-invasive disease and that reduced damage response was a better predictor of recurrence than the presence of high-risk histology in this cohort. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that mechanisms governing treatment-induced DNA damage are both central to and predictive of bladder cancer cell treatment sensitivity and exemplifies a link between DNA damage resistance and both treatment response and tumour aggression
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