Melanosis of the urinary bladder.

Melanosis bladder refers to the urothelium of the bladder appearing black and velvety, with microscopic evaluation describing melanin deposition. Risk factors, pathogenesis and clinical implications are unknown because only sporadic cases are reported in the literature, both with and without the presence of urinary tract symptoms or malignancy. We report a case of melanosis bladder in a male patient with voiding urinary symptoms and an untreated hypospadias.

Bilateral penile cavernosal abscess secondary to Escherichia coli: a case report of a rare diagnosis.

Cavernosal abscess is a rare diagnosis. Disparity exists in the literature but the most common colonising agents appear to be Neisseira gonorrhoea and Staphylococcus aureus. We describe a 75-year-old man who presented with sepsis and was found to have Escherichia coli positive blood and urinary cultures. Following initial treatment for sepsis of unknown origin, computed tomography demonstrated a bilateral cavernosal abscess. The patient was successfully treated with incision and drainage, multiple re-looks and a delayed closure, alongside a course of appropriate antibiotics. A defect in the bulbar urethra was identified and repaired with bladder drainage via both suprapubic and urethral catheters. Following discharge, a urethrogram showed no urethral leak or stricture and the patient is now catheter free.

Ownership and uses of human tissue: what are the opinions of surgical in-patients?

AIMS: To investigate whether patient opinion about the uses of tissue removed at therapeutic operations has changed since the adverse publicity surrounding the Alder Hey and Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiries, and to see whether it aligns with the Human Tissue Act 2004. METHODS: A questionnaire was given to 220 postoperative patients in a teaching hospital during an 11 week period. Aggregated responses to each question were ranked in frequency order. Unweighted centroid linkage hierarchical clustering analysis was performed with dendrogram display for the main data on tissue usage. RESULTS: 203 completed questionnaires were collected (compliance rate 92.3%). 96.3% of patients indicated that they would not object to their tissue being used in research, significantly higher than in the 1996 study (89.1%) with no overlap of the 95% CIs. 29.1% of patients believed that the hospital had ownership of tissue once it has been removed during surgery, 23.2% believed they had ownership, 19.7% believed that the pathology laboratory had ownership, and 15.3% believed that nobody had ownership rights in the case of tissue samples. CONCLUSIONS: This new survey indicates that despite a turbulent decade for those involved in human tissue retention in the UK, public support for a wide range of human tissue based activities, especially biomedical research, has not diminished and that patient opinion aligns well with the Human Tissue Act 2004.