Malakoplakia of the urinary bladder: A review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to make a review of the literature about bladder malakoplakia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We searched articles on the PUBMED web-literature database with the following keywords: "vesical malakoplakia" and "bladder malakoplakia". In the literature we found 254 articles. At final we have excluded 219 articles, including in our study only 35 articles. RESULTS: The overall average age found was 50.85 years. The average age of men was 43.22 years, while that of women was 53.37 years. 75% of the patient cases were women and 25% were men. Regarding comorbidities, in 5.55% of the cases were missing whereas 47.22% of the patients suffered from recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) and 19.44% from immune system disorders. Urine culture was positive in 69.44% with E.coli being isolated in 92% of cases. Hydroureteronephrosis was present in 44.44% of the cases: left in 6.25% of cases, right in 18.75% and bilateral in 75%. The mean serum creatinine of patients with hydroureteronephrosis was 5.11 (1-21) mg/dl. The most frequent site of the lesion was the vesicoureteral junction (VUJ) (42.31%), followed by the trigone (38.46%). 30.56% of patients were treated with antibiotic and surgery (transurethral resection of bladder, partial or radical cystectomy), less frequent options were antibiotics alone and surgery alone. The recurrence rate was 15%. CONCLUSIONS: Malakoplakia is a disorder usually related to other affections, like UTI and immunodepression, and it seem to be caused by an abnormal macrophage function. In almost half of the described cases of isolated bladder malakoplakia, hydroureteronephrosis and renal failure were present.Treatment is not standardized, but both medical and surgical therapies are effective to avoid recurrence.

Urodynamic parameters after solifenacin treatment in men with overactive bladder symptoms and detrusor underactivity.

AIMS: To describe the changes in urodynamic parameters and to assess patients' perceptions of voiding difficulties and improvements in symptom bother after solifenacin treatment in men with overactive bladder (OAB) and detrusor underactivity (DUA). METHODS: In this prospective study, 49 neurologically intact men were enrolled. DUA was defined as a bladder contractility index (BCI) <100. All subjects received 5 mg of solifenacin once a day for 120 days. A complete urodynamic study was carried out on the day before to the first dose of solifenacin and at day 120. RESULTS: Solifenacin treatment resulted in a decrease in Q(max) during UDS (-0.6 ml/sec; P = 0.007), P(det)Q(max) (-6.4 cmH(2)O; P < 0.001), BOOI (-7.5; P < 0.001), BCI (-3.8; P = 0.001), BVE (-4.4%; P = 0.006), and voided volume (-7.5 ml; P = 0.09). On the contrary, PVR (+6 ml; P = 0.152), and maximum cystometric capacity (+22.9 ml; P = 0.001) increased. The regression analysis suggested that changes in urodynamic parameters after solifenacin treatment were limited for BOOI (9.4%), P(det)Q(max) (8.4%), and BCI (6.5%), with no significant impact on Q(max) during UDS, BVE, volume voided and PVR. No significant change in subjective perception of voiding difficulties was found. The incidence of AUR was 2.2% and improvement in patient's experience of OAB symptoms bother after solifenacin treatment was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Solifenacin treatment results in changes of urodynamic parameters. These changes, however, seem not to be of clinical significance as suggested by the lack of subjective deterioration in voiding difficulties and by the low incidence of AUR.

Surgical and biologic outcomes after neoadjuvant bicalutamide treatment in prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To perform a randomized, prospective, controlled, intention-to-treat study to determine the usefulness of bicalutamide as a neoadjuvant hormonal therapy regimen to surgery in reducing positive surgical margins and modulating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) member's in men with prostate cancer. METHODS: From April 2002 to December 2003, 430 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Of these men, 119 with clinical Stage T2-T3a were enrolled. Of the 119 men, 61 were assigned to receive 150 mg/day bicalutamide for 120 days before radical prostatectomy (bicalutamide plus surgery group) and 58 to radical prostatectomy alone (surgery group). Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between bicalutamide and EGFR/Her2/neu levels. P <0.05 was considered to indicate significance. RESULTS: Patients treated with bicalutamide had a 3.5-fold increase in negative surgical margins (odds ratio [OR] 3.5; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4 to 8.74; P = 0.011). In particular, in Stage pT3a tumors, bicalutamide treatment was associated with a fivefold increase in negative surgical margins (OR 5.4; 95% CI 1.9 to 15.5; P = 0.002). In those with Stage pT2, no difference for this surgical outcome was noted. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that bicalutamide increased EGFR levels 2.8-fold (OR 2.8; 95% CI 1.3 to 6.2; P = 0.014) and of 2.7-fold Her2/neu (OR 2.7; 95% CI 1.2 to 5.8; P = 0.022). When EGFR and Her2/neu were overexpressed, they were also active. In this regard, bicalutamide increased p-EGFR levels 3.3-fold (OR 3.3; 95% CI 1.3 to 8.2; P = 0.0016) and increased p-Her2/neu 2.8-fold (OR 2.8; 95% CI 1.2 to 6.3; P = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: Bicalutamide appears to reduce the prevalence of positive surgical margins. The upregulation of Her2/neu and EGFR and their phosphorylated forms was an early event after bicalutamide treatment. We hypothesized that the benefits of neoadjuvant hormonal therapy might be overwhelmed by the capacity of the residual tumor to acquire compensatory survival pathways and to grow and progress.

Urodynamic obstruction in women with stress urinary incontinence--do nonintubated uroflowmetry and symptoms aid diagnosis?

PURPOSE: We estimated the prevalence of urodynamic obstruction in women with stress urinary incontinence and determined which clinical indicator (nonintubated uroflowmetry or urinary symptoms) better predicts urodynamic obstruction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From December 2004 to June 2005, 101 women with urodynamic stress urinary incontinence were enrolled. Adjunctive lower urinary tract symptoms were also observed. Of 101 women with stress urinary incontinence 27 had abnormal and 74 had normal nonintubated uroflowmetry. Normal nonintubated uroflowmetry was defined as a bell-shaped curve with maximum flow more than 15 ml per second and post-void residual urine less than 50 ml. Urodynamic obstruction was diagnosed based on maximum urine flow less than 12 ml per second and maximum detrusor pressure at maximum flow more than 25 cm H(2)O. RESULTS: In our stress urinary incontinence population the prevalence of urodynamic obstruction was 15.7%. In urodynamically obstructed women storage symptoms were most common (56.3%), while voiding and post-micturition symptoms were less common (31.3% and 6%, respectively). A good correlation between abnormal nonintubated uroflowmetry and urodynamic obstruction (phi = 0.718, p <0.0001) was found. lower urinary tract symptoms correlated weakly with urodynamic obstruction. The diagnostic performance of abnormal nonintubated uroflowmetry for predicting urodynamic obstruction showed that it had relatively low positive predictive value (51.8%) with high negative predictive value (97.3%), sensitivity (87.5%) and specificity (84.1%). The diagnostic performance of lower urinary tract symptoms was weak. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms the coexistence of obstruction and stress urinary incontinence. In this population abnormal nonintubated uroflowmetry cannot always confirm the presence of urodynamic obstruction and complete urodynamic study might be indicated. Conversely normal nonintubated uroflowmetry seems to accurately predict normal urodynamic study and might render the execution of this test not essential. Symptoms represent a poor clinical indicator of voiding disorder.

Bladder outlet obstruction index and maximal flow rate during urodynamic study as powerful predictors for the detection of urodynamic obstruction in women.

AIMS: To evaluate whether bladder outlet obstruction index (BOOI), a mathematical index of outlet resistance, in association with maximal flow rate (Qmax) obtained during multichannel urodynamics (UDS) or detrusor pressure at maximal flow rate (PdetQmax) could help the identification of obstruction in women. METHODS: From January 2004 to February 2005, 401 women were assessed in our urodynamic unit. Of these, 133 were neurologically intact women, referred symptoms suggestive of voiding disorders and had an abnormal non-intubated uroflussometry (NIF) (BOO group). A normal NIF was defined as a bell-shaped curve in presence of a Qmax >15 ml/sec and a PVR <50 ml. Symptoms of voiding disorders were ascertained by interview and rated positive if they occurred more than occasionally. Thirty-seven women were enrolled as unobstructed if they presented a normal NIF and symptoms suggestive of voiding disorders less than occasionally (unobstructed group). RESULTS: ROC curve demonstrated similar diagnostic accuracy in the diagnosis of urodynamic obstruction for Qmax obtained during UDS (AUC = 0.908; P < 0.0001; CI99% = 0.831 to 0.985) and BOOI (AUC = 0.879; P < 0.0001; CI99% = 0.794 to 0.918) and the least was seen for PdetQmax (AUC = 0.706; P = 0.001; CI99% = 0.620 to 0.830). A Qmax obtained during UDS cut-off < or =15 ml/sec provides specificity of 85.9% and sensitivity of 78.9%. A BOOI cut-off > or = -8 provides a sensitivity of 80.8% and specificity of 86.1%. The weakest sensitivity (64.2%) and specificity (64.6%) was recorded for PdetQmax > or =28 cmH(2)O. CONCLUSIONS: BOOI and Qmax obtained during UDS appears to be the most discriminating urodynamic parameters of female BOO. The use of these cutoff might facilitate the identification of women with functional and anatomical obstruction.

Tamsulosin treatment increases clinical success rate of single extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy of renal stones.

OBJECTIVES: To design a randomized, no-treatment, controlled, prospective study to determine whether the administration of tamsulosin, as adjunctive medical therapy, increases the efficacy of one extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) session to treat renal stones and decreases the use of analgesic drugs after the procedure. METHODS: A total of 130 patients underwent a single ESWL session to treat solitary radiopaque renal stones 4 to 20 mm in diameter. After treatment, all patients were randomly assigned to receive our standard medical therapy alone (controls) or in association with 0.4 mg tamsulosin daily for a maximum of 12 weeks. All 130 patients were followed up for 3 months or until an alternative treatment was given. RESULTS: Of the 130 patients, 78.5% of those receiving tamsulosin and 60% of controls had achieved clinical success at 3 months (P = 0.037). When we stratified patients according to stone size, for those with a stone size larger than 10 mm, the success rate was significantly greater in the tamsulosin group (P = 0.028). Renoureteral colic occurred in 76.9% of patients treated with standard therapy but in only 26.1% of those receiving tamsulosin (P < 0.001). The mean cumulative diclofenac dose was 375 mg per patient in the tamsulosin group and 675 mg per patient in the control group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study have demonstrated that tamsulosin therapy, as an adjunctive medical therapy after ESWL, is more effective than lithotripsy alone for the treatment of patients with large renal stones and is equally safe. In addition, our results also indicated that adjunctive treatment with tamsulosin could decrease the use of analgesic drugs after ESWL.