Use of thermographic imaging for the evaluation of erectile dysfunction and Peyronie's disease.

Thermographic imaging is a technique to measure infrared radiation to report temperature and has been used in prior research to assess sexual arousal by measuring genital temperature. We hypothesized this can be used quantitatively to assess erectile function. We conducted an observational clinical trial of this technique by performing thermographic imaging in the flaccid and erect state and compared these values with hemodynamic measurements performed by penile Doppler/duplex ultrasound (PDDU). We also hypothesized that in men with Peyronie's disease (PD), the plaque would be visible on thermographic imaging and took thermographic measurements in this area for patients with PD. Any man scheduled to undergo PDDU in our urology clinic was approached for recruitment. PDDU was performed by one of two experienced urologists. We recruited 30 men for this study. Seven of these men had PD. The change in measured temperature between flaccid and erect states correlated significantly with the peak systolic velocity r = 0.46 (p = 0.025). In the seven men with PD the mean change in temperature of the plaque was +0.9 °C versus +2.1 °C in the normal penis (p = 0.28). Thermographic imaging shows a significant correlation with objective hemodynamic measurements on PDDU.

Evaluation of Current Surgical BPH Interventions for Young and Elderly Men.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Benign prostatic hyperplasia affects the quality of life of a significant number of men, especially as they age. There are continuous innovations in the surgical management of benign prostatic hyperplasia, but many of these innovations are studied in the core population of men 50-70 years of age. This review focuses on the outliers of men aged 18-50 and 70 and older. RECENT FINDINGS: Older populations have more comorbidities, higher rates of antithrombotic medications, and advanced symptoms. Properly selected older men can safely have significant objective and subjective improvement in their symptoms. The literature was scarce when evaluating younger men; however, ejaculatory preserving techniques are promising providing improvement in symptoms and preserving ejaculation. This review demonstrates that in properly selected elderly patients, improvements in quality of life while also providing safe surgical interventions can be achieved. Ejaculatory preservation techniques demonstrate promising results, but further studies are required to elucidate true outcomes.

Urology Individual Critical Task List: Creation and Validation of a Simulation Curriculum.

INTRODUCTION: Individual critical task lists (ICTLs) are skills identified by the U.S. Army for the maintenance of combat readiness in each military occupational specialty, including physicians. These lists vary by medical and surgical specialties and are being utilized by leaders to determine individual deployment capability. The lists for urologists include broader tasks that are not routinely performed in a urology practice. Our goal was to create a simulation curriculum to train urologists and to perform validation testing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Urology staff and residents at a single military treatment facility underwent a simulation event of urology ICTLs: chest tube, needle decompression, intubation, cricothyroidotomy, and extended focused assessment with sonography for trauma. The simulation was broken down into a pretest, cognitive acquisition, in-person training with subject matter experts for skills acquisition, and a posttest. Content validity questionnaires were administered to participants after the training session. Cognitive acquisition consisted of a series of videos demonstrating task execution and in-person demonstration of tasks and clinical scenarios of when they would be needed. In-person simulation was performed on training mannequins and a sonography simulation trainer. RESULTS: There were a total of nine participants: three residents and six staff urologists, ranging from postgraduate year 2 to more than 10 years out of residency. The total simulation time was 120 min, including 30 min for pretest and viewing of videos. Knowledge-based questions improved from pretest to posttest significantly (mean of 1.2 to 0.1, P < .001). Confidence performing tasks improved significantly on all tasks (P ≤ .01). All participants felt the simulation to be beneficial and had more comfort with the tasks. CONCLUSIONS: The novel urology ICTL curriculum using simulation is a feasible and well-received way to keep competency on these tasks and maintain readiness. Face and content validity was established for the urology ICTL simulation curriculum, and the curriculum is exportable to equip urologists at other facilities for the urology ICTLs and for deployments, where life-saving interventions may be necessary from urologists that may be outside their ordinary scope of practice.

Preoperative Albumin Is Predictive of Early Postoperative Morbidity and Mortality in Common Urologic Oncologic Surgeries.

INTRODUCTION: Multiple studies have linked preoperative nutrition status to postoperative outcomes. This relationship has been little studied in urology. We used a standardized, national, risk-adjusted surgical database to evaluate 30-day outcomes of patients undergoing common urologic oncologic procedures as they related to preoperative albumin. METHODS: The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program is a risk-adjusted dataset analyzing preoperative risk factors, demographics, and 30-day outcomes. From 2005 through 2012, we identified a total of 17,805 patients who underwent prostatectomy, nephrectomy, partial nephrectomy, cystectomy, or transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). Hypoalbuminemic patients were compared with those with normal preoperative albumin, and 30-day outcomes were evaluated. Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds ratios for mortality and complication rates. RESULTS: Evaluation of the cohort noted significantly increased overall morbidity, serious morbidity, and mortality in the hypoalbuminemic group (P < .01 for all procedures). Hypoalbuminemia was associated with a significantly higher 30-day mortality in major procedures such as cystectomy, and in smaller procedures such as TURBT (P < .01). Hypoalbuminemia was associated with a 6.4% 30-day mortality in the TURBT group compared with 0.6% in those with normal albumin (P < .0001). These findings remained significant after adjustment for other risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The large sample size, standardized data definitions, and quality control measures of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database allow for in-depth analysis of subtle but significant differences in outcomes between groups. Serum albumin is a strong predictor of short-term postoperative complications in the urologic oncology patient.

Erectile Function Recovery after Radical Prostatectomy in Men with High Risk Features.

PURPOSE: We describe the efficacy of radical prostatectomy to achieve complete primary tumor excision while preserving erectile function in a cohort of patients with high risk features in whom surgical resection was tailored according to clinical staging, biopsy data, preoperative imaging and intraoperative findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a retrospective review we identified 584 patients with high risk features (prostate specific antigen 20 ng/ml or greater, clinical stage T3 or greater, preoperative Gleason grade 8-10) who underwent radical prostatectomy between 2006 and 2012. The probability of neurovascular bundle preservation was estimated based on preoperative characteristics. Positive surgical margin rates and erectile function recovery were determined in patients who had some degree of neurovascular bundle preservation. RESULTS: The neurovascular bundles were resected bilaterally in 69 (12%) and unilaterally in 91 (16%) patients. The remaining patients had some degree of bilateral neurovascular bundle preservation. Preoperative features associated with a lower probability of neurovascular bundle preservation were primary biopsy Gleason grade 5 and clinical stage T3 disease. Among the patients with some degree of neurovascular bundle preservation 125 of 515 (24%) had a positive surgical margin, and 75 of 160 (47%) men with preoperatively functional erections and available erectile function followup had recovered erectile function within 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: High risk features should not be considered an indication for complete bilateral neurovascular bundle resection. Some degree of neurovascular bundle preservation can be done safely by high volume surgeons in the majority of these patients with an acceptable rate of positive surgical margins. Nearly half of high risk patients with functional erections preoperatively recover erectile function after radical prostatectomy.

Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy demonstrates less morbidity than open radical prostatectomy: an analysis of the American College of Surgeons-National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database with a focus on surgical trainee involvement.

INTRODUCTION: Complication rates of open radical prostatectomies (ORPs) and laparoscopic radical prostatectomies (LRPs) performed by highly experienced surgeons in centers of excellence are well known. Using a standardized, national, risk-adjusted surgical database, we compared 30-day outcomes following ORP and LRP and analyzed how trainee involvement influenced outcomes. METHODS: The American College of Surgeons-National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) is a risk-adjusted data collection analyzing preoperative risk factors, demographics, and 30-day postoperative outcomes. From 2005 to 2011, we identified 10,669 total prostatectomies. Of these, 2278 were ORP and 8391 were LRP. Data on trainee involvement were available on 63% of cases. RESULTS: Comparison of all 10,669 prostatectomies showed a decreased incidence of overall morbidity, serious morbidity, surgical site infections, mortality, wound disruption, urinary tract infection, bleeding, and sepsis or septic shock (p<0.05) for LRP compared with ORP. Trainee involvement was associated with a higher incidence of bleeding, overall and serious morbidity (p<0.001). This difference is isolated to postgraduate year (PGY) 6-10 trainees performing ORP (p<0.001). Overall and serious morbidity was equivalent between PGY groups 1-10 versus attending without trainee performing LRP and PGY groups 1-5 versus attending without trainee performing ORP. Operative times were shorter for ORP versus LRP by an average of 38 minutes (p<0.05), and in cases involving trainees, operative times decreased with trainee experience for both procedures. The length of stay was shorter for LRP compared with ORP (3.2 vs. 1.8 days, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The large sample size, standardized data definitions, and quality control measures of the ACS-NSQIP database allow for in-depth analysis of subtle, but significant differences in outcomes between groups. Trainee involvement in LRP appears safe to patients. However, the increased morbidity in ORP involving trainees may be mitigated by awareness, simulation laboratories, and standardized competency assessment.