Management of shotgun injuries to the pelvis and lower genitourinary system.

OBJECTIVES: Shotgun injuries are rare, with the extent of injury best determined at time of surgical exploration. There are no defined workup or management guidelines for patients with shotgun injuries to the genitourinary system. Injuries are usually treated on an individual basis. This study was conducted to determine the management and extent of genitourinary tract injuries in 10 patients with shotgun injuries to the pelvis during a 6-year interval. METHODS: Between September 1990 and December 1996, 140 patients were treated for firearm injuries to the lower genitourinary tract, of which 10 were secondary to shotgun blasts. We performed a retrospective hospital and clinic chart review and telephone interview to assess organs injured, initial treatment, follow-up surgeries, mortality, and erectile function. RESULTS: Mean patient age was 20 years at the time of the injury. The mean follow-up was 4 years (range 1 to 7). Two patients died, both with major vascular injuries, one in the operating room and the other 1 week later from sepsis. Eight patients underwent radiographic examinations (1 intravenous urogram and 7 urethrocystograms). The bladder was injured in 5 patients, 2 with concomitant complete posterior urethral transection. Of the 5 patients without bladder injury, one had an incomplete penile urethral injury and one had a complete bulbar urethral transection. The initial management consisted of repairing nongenitourinary injuries in 8 cases (80%), most commonly involving injuries to the rectum and small bowel. All patients were treated operatively, including 8 who required laparotomy and 4 who required suprapubic cystotomy. A total of four urethral injuries were noted. Subsequent reconstructive surgeries included two urethroplasties and one permanent supravesical diversion for 3 patients with extensive urethral loss. Erectile dysfunction was present in 3 of 6 patients available for telephone interview. CONCLUSIONS: Shotgun injuries involving the lower genitourinary tract are associated with significant soft tissue injury and morbidity. Death usually results from major associated vascular injuries. All hemodynamically stable patients should undergo retrograde urethrograms and cystograms to evaluate possible urethral and bladder injuries. Open primary repair should be attempted for distal urethral, testicular, and corporal injuries. Delayed repair with staged urethral reconstruction should be reserved for patients with extensive loss of urethral tissue. Impotence is common in patients with extensive perineal injuries.

Severe combined immunodeficient-hu model of human prostate cancer metastasis to human bone.

Commonly used in vivo models of prostate cancer metastasis include syngeneic rodent cancers and xenografts of human cancer in immunodeficient mice. However, the occurrence of osseous metastases in these models is rare, and in xenograft models, species-specific factors may limit the ability of human cells to metastasize to rodent bones. We have modified the severe combined immunodeficient (SCID)-human model to test the ability of circulating human prostate cancer cells to home to macroscopic fragments of human bone and other organs previously implanted into SCID mice. We have also compared the growth of human prostate cancer cells in various human and mouse tissue microenvironments in vivo. Macroscopic fragments of human fetal bone, lung, or intestine (16-22 weeks gestation) or mouse bone were implanted s.c. into male CB.17 SCID mice. Four weeks later, human prostate cancer cells were injected either i.v. via the tail vein (circulating cell colonization assay) or directly into the implanted tissue fragments transdermally (end organ growth assay). Tumor growth was followed for 6 weeks by palpation and magnetic resonance imaging. After 6 weeks, tumors were enumerated in implanted human and mouse organ fragments and native mouse tissue. Tumors were characterized by histology, immunohistochemistry, and chromosomal analysis. After i.v. injection, circulating PC3 cells successfully colonized implanted human bone fragments in 5 of 19 mice. Tumors were easily followed by palpation and imaging and had an average volume of 258 mm3 at autopsy. Histological examination revealed osteolysis and a strong desmoplastic stromal response, which indicated intense stromal-epithelial interaction. Bone tumors were subcultured, and chromosomal analysis demonstrated that the tumors were derived from the parental prostate cancer cell line. Microscopic tumor colonies were also found in a few mouse lungs after i.v. injection of PC3, DU145, and LNCaP cells, however the volume of the lung nodules was less than 1 mm3 in all of the cases. No colonization of human lung or intestine implants, the mouse skeleton, or other mouse organs was detected, demonstrating a species- and tissue-specific colonization of human bone by PC3 cells. Direct injection of 10(4) prostate cancer cells into human bone implants resulted in large tumors in 75-100% of mice. PC3 and DU145 bone tumors were primarily osteolytic, whereas LNCaP bone tumors were both osteoblastic and osteolytic. PC3 and LNCaP bone tumors showed a desmoplastic stromal response, which indicated intense stromal-epithelial interaction. All three of the cell lines formed tumors in implanted human lung tissue; however, the tumors were all < or = 10 mm3 in volume and showed minimal stromal involvement. No tumors formed after either s.c. injection or injection of cells into implanted mouse bone demonstrating both species- and tissue-specific enhancement of growth of human prostate cancer cells by human bone. The severe combined immunodeficient-human model provides a useful system to study species-specific mechanisms involved in the homing of human prostate cancer cells to human bone and the growth of human prostate cancer cells in human bone.

Ureterocele arising from a lower-pole moiety.

We report on an uncommon case of a ureterocele arising from the lower-pole ureter in a duplex system. To our knowledge, this represents the 3rd such case reported in the English literature. Ultrasonography and retrograde pyelogram established the diagnosis. The patient underwent left upper-pole nephroureterectomy with excision of the ureterocele and cross-trigonal ureteral reimplantation.