ABSTRACT
To gain insights on the diverse practice patterns and treatment pathways for prostate cancer (PC) in India, the Urological Cancer Foundation convened the first Indian survey to discuss all aspects of PC, with the objective of guiding clinicians on optimizing management in PC. A modified Delphi method was used, wherein a multidisciplinary panel of oncologists treating PC across India developed a questionnaire related to screening, diagnosis and management of early, locally advanced and metastatic PC and participated in a web朾ased survey (WBS) (n = 62). An expert committee meeting (CM) (n = 48, subset from WBS) reviewed the ambiguous questions for better comprehension and reanalyzed the evidence to establish a revote for specific questions. The threshold for strong agreement and agreement was ?90% and ?75% agreement, respectively. Sixty?two questions were answered in the WBS; in the CM 31 questions were revoted and 4 questions were added. The panelists selected answers based on their best opinion and closest to their practice strategy, not considering financial constraints and access challenges. Of the 66 questions, strong agreement was reached for 17 questions and agreement was achieved for 22 questions. There were heterogeneous responses for 27 questions indicative of variegated management approaches. This is one of the first Indian survey, documenting the diverse clinical practice patterns in the management of PC in India. It aims to provide guidance in the face of technological advances, resource constraints and sparse high?level evidence.
ABSTRACT
The study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of multivitamin and micronutrient supplementation in azoospermic patients with maturation arrest. A total of 35 azoospermic patients showing maturation arrest on testicular biopsy were recruited in this study. The patients were divided into two groups. Untreated group (n=11) without any treatment and treated group (n=24) who received multivitamins, micronutrients and co-enzyme Q10. The sperm concentration, motility and morphology were evaluated at monthly interval. The results showed reduction in liquefaction time and relative viscosity of the semen in the treated group. Further, in treated group there was appearance of spermatozoa (4.0 million/ml) exhibiting progressive motility (7%) and normal morphology (6%), even in the first follow up visit. The sperm count, motility and normal morphology increased significantly on subsequent visits. Within 3 months (3 visits) 2 pregnancies were reported. These observations indicate that multivitamin and micronutrient supplementation improve the qualitative and quantitative parameters of seminogram in patients with azoospermia of maturation arrest.