Tuberculosis of testis and prostate that mimicked testicular cancer in young male soccer player.

Staphylococcus infection was the most common organism found in infection of athletics, and tuberculosis (TB) was rare. Although genitourinary tuberculosis (GUTB) was the most common subtype of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in the past, it was recently reported to account for less than 0.5% of all patients with EPTB and 1.5% of all patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). And, there are few cases reported about concomitant tuberculous infection of testis and prostate. Pubic pain is a common symptom in soccer player and its cause can be difficult to determine. A 25-yr-old male soccer player presented with persistent pubic pain of unknown origin. Incidentally, right testicular mass was detected on physical examination. Computed tomography revealed a multiple enlarged retroperitoneal lymph nodes. Under the clinical diagnosis of a right testicular tumor, right radical inguinal orchiectomy was performed. And prostate biopsy was performed due to elevated serum prostate specific antigen (PSA). Pathologic examination confirmed concomitant TB of testis and prostate.

Impact of treatment with statins on prostate-specific antigen and prostate volume in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

PURPOSE: We investigated the impact on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostate volume (PV) of statin medication for 1 year in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively investigated 791 patients in whom BPH was diagnosed. For analysis, the patients were divided into four groups according to their medications: group A, α-blocker; group B, α-blocker+statin; group C, α-blocker+dutasteride; group D, α-blockers+statin+dutasteride. To investigate changes in serum PSA, PV, and total cholesterol, we analyzed the data at the time of initial treatment and after 1 year of medication. RESULTS: After 1 year, group A showed a 1.3% increase in PSA and a 1.0% increase in PV. Group B showed a 4.3% decrease in PSA and a 1.8% decrease in PV. The difference in PV reduction between groups A and B was statistically significant (p<0.001). Group C showed a 49.1% reduction in PSA and a 22.9% reduction in PV. Group D showed a 51.6% reduction in PSA and a 24.5% reduction in PV. The difference in PV reduction between groups C and D was not statistically significant (p=0.762). By use of a multivariate logistic regression model, we found that the probability of PV reduction after 1 year was more than 14.8 times in statin users than in statin nonusers (95% confidence interval, 5.8% to 37.6%; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Statin administration reduced PSA and PV in BPH patients. This finding may imply the improvement of lower urinary tract symptoms and prevention of cardiovascular disease and chemoprevention of prostate cancer with statin treatment.

Wilms' tumor in a horseshoe kidney.

The incidence of horseshoe kidney is about 1 in 400 cases. The presence of Wilms' tumor with a horseshoe kidney is unusual, and the occurrence of Wilms' tumor in a horseshoe kidney is estimated at 0.4 to 0.9% of all Wilms' tumors. We report the case of a 5-year-old boy who presented with a stage IV Wilms' tumor in a horseshoe kidney. The patient was treated with preoperative chemotherapy followed by surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy. This case illustrates the role of preoperative chemotherapy for preserving renal function and aims to highlight the multimodality treatment of Wilms' tumor.

Tumor establishment features of orthotopic murine bladder cancer models.

PURPOSE: Animal tumor models are important for the evaluation of novel therapeutic modalities. Since the initial report of an orthotopic bladder tumor model, several modifications have been proposed to improve the tumor take rate. Here we compared the HCl-pretreated and electrocauterization-pretreated orthotopic murine bladder tumor models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MBT-2 murine bladder cancer cells were transurethrally implanted in the bladder of syngeneic C3H/He mice. The mice were divided into three groups according to pretreatment methods (electrocautery, HCl, and control group) and were subjected to pretreatment before instillation of MBT-2 tumor cells into the bladder. Mice were sacrificed on day 21, and bladders were harvested, weighed, and examined histopathologically. RESULTS: The tumor take rate of the control, electrocautery, and HCl groups was 0%, 54%, and 100%, respectively. The tumor take rate of the HCl group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p<0.01) and the electrocautery group (p=0.01). Pathologic reports revealed that all established bladder tumors were high-grade papillary urothelial carcinomas. CONCLUSIONS: The HCl pretreatment model was a preferable murine bladder tumor model for evaluating further therapeutic interventions.

Porcine vesical acellular matrix graft of tunica albuginea for penile reconstruction.

AIM: To characterize the feasibility of the surgical replacement of the penile tunica albuginea (TA) and to evaluate the value of a porcine bladder acellular matrix (BAM) graft. METHODS: Acellular matrices were constructed from pigs' bladders by cell lysis, and then examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Expression levels of the mRNA of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor, fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-1 receptor, neuregulin, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the acellular matrix and submucosa of the pigs'bladders were determined through the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A 5 mm X 5 mm square was excised from the penile TA of nine rabbits. The defective TA was then covered in porcine BAM. Equal numbers of animals were sacrificed and histochemically examined at 2, 4 and 6 months after implantation. RESULTS: SEM of the BAM showed collagen fibers with many pores. VEGF receptor, FGF-1 receptor and neuregulin mRNA were expressed in the porcine BAM; BDNF mRNA was not detected. Two months after implantation, the graft sites exhibited excellent healing without contracture, and the fusion between the graft and the neighboring normal TA appeared to be well established. There were no significant histological differences between the implanted tunica and the normal control tunica at 6 months after implantation. CONCLUSION: The porcine BAM graft resulted in a structure which was sufficiently like that of the normal TA. This implantation might be considered applicable to the reconstruction of the TA in conditions such as trauma or Peyronie's disease.

Nicotine induces apoptosis in TM3 mouse Leydig cells.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether nicotine-induced testicular toxicity involves the induction of apoptosis in Leydig cells. DESIGN: Cell study using cells of the TM3 cell line derived from mouse Leydig cells. SETTING: Academic research laboratory. INTERVENTION(S): Morphological and biochemical analyses for the detection of apoptosis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The effect of nicotine on the occurrence of apoptosis was evaluated using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining, terminal deoxynuclotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling assay, DNA fragmentation assay, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, caspase-3 enzyme assay, and Western blot analysis. Nicotine treatment exhibits several features of apoptosis in mouse Leydig cells. RESULT(S): TM3 cells treated with nicotine exhibit several features of apoptosis. It was also shown that nicotine increases the mRNA level of bax and decreases that of bcl-2. In addition, nicotine enhanced the expression of the activated form of caspase-3 and caspase-3 enzyme activity. CONCLUSION(S): Nicotine appears to activate specific intracellular death-related pathways, probably by bax-dependent activation of caspase-3, inducing apoptosis in Leydig cells. Thus, nicotine-induced apoptosis of Leydig cells might be one of the important mechanisms behind nicotine-related urogenital disorders in men.