Percutaneous nephrostomy for symptomatic hypermobile kidney: a single centre experience.

INTRODUCTION: Symptomatic hypermobile kidney is treated with nephropexy, a surgical procedure through which the floating kidney is fixed to the retroperitoneum. Although both open and endoscopic procedures have a high success rate, they can be associated with risk of complications, relatively long hospital stay and high cost. AIM: We describe our percutaneous technique for fixing a hypermobile kidney and evaluate the efficacy of the percutaneous nephrostomy insertion in management of symptomatic nephroptosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between January 2005 and December 2011, 11 patients diagnosed with a symptomatic right nephroptosis of at least 1 year duration were treated with a single point percutaneous nephrostomy technique. All data were retrieved from patients' medical records and then retrospectively analysed. RESULTS: Nephropexy through a single point percutaneous nephrostomy technique was successfully accomplished in 11 women. The mean operative time was 20 min. The intraoperative estimated blood loss was minimal in all cases. No major or minor intraoperative complications were noted. The average postoperative hospital stay was 2 days. Women returned to their usual activities 14 days following the surgery. Nine women had complete resolution of their pain, and 2 patients continued to complain of discomfort in their lumbar area. One patient was re-operated upon with satisfactory subjective and objective outcomes achieved. One patient refused re-operation. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous nephropexy is simple, inexpensive and effective for treatment of symptomatic hypermobile kidney. It remains a valuable alternative to open, laparoscopic, and robotic methods for fixing a floating kidney.

An uncommon case of inflammatory infiltration of the urinary bladder in the long-term process of the purulent inflammation of the cervix and vaginal fornix, complicated with vesicovaginal fistula of unknown etiology.

We shall discuss the case of a female patient, aged 64 years, who was suffering from long-term purulent inflammation of the vaginal fornix that later involved the vaginal stump. This inflammatory process spread to the bladder trigone and resulted in vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) formation together with a bilateral hydronephrosis that required the placement of a temporary percutaneous nephrostomy. A non-cicatrized inflammatory reaction occurred at the right-sided insertion of the nephrostomy, which has yet to be successfully treated despite intensive dermatological and surgical approaches that included skin grafting. In the course of five-year treatment we observed a gradual regression of the inflammatory infiltration of both the trigone of the bladder and the vagina as well as a gradual closing of the VVF. The extremely long-lasting and uncommon local inflammatory reactions in the vagina, bladder, and dermal layers mandated the application of conservative treatment. The possibility of difficulties and defective healing of tissues that could result from surgical correction of the VVF are discouraging for both the patient and medical staff.

Partial cystectomy in a 76 year old patient suffering from small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder.

Small cell carcinomas of the urinary bladder originating from the neuroendocrine cells are extremely rare. We present a case of a 76-year-old patient with small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder. The patient had hematuria and cystoscopy revealed a tumor located in a urinary bladder diverticulum. Partial resection of the bladder wall with diverticulectomy was performed. Microscopic examination established the diagnosis of neuroendocrine carcinoma, which was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. Three-month follow-up showed no recurrent disease. Patient refused further chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene intron 4 polymorphism in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

INTRODUCTION: Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (ecNOS) is a key regulator of vascular nitric oxide production. Polymorphism in intron 4 of the ecNOS gene is implicated in cardiovascular and renal diseases. We investigated a potential involvement of this polymorphism in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its renal complications. METHODS: This preliminary study involved 410 individuals with type 2 diabetes and 330 healthy control subjects. From the diabetes group 178 patients had diabetic nephropathy. All subjects were genotyped for the ecNOS4 polymorphism by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by gel electrophoresis. Genotype and allele frequencies were compared between diabetes patients with and without nephropathy and the control group. All calculations were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for Windows 5.0. The chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used for case-control comparisons. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for the comparison of subgroups of patients with diabetes. RESULTS: The analysis revealed that patients with diabetes, regardless of their nephropathy status, were significantly different in genotype distribution and 4a allele frequencies compared with controls (p < 0.05). The frequency of aa genotype was 8.2% in diabetic patients without nephropathy, 8.4% with those with nephropathy and 1.2% in controls. The 4a allele showed a significant effect on diabetic nephropathy, with odds ratio of 2.24 (95% confidence interval 1.12-3.40). There were no significant differences in the 4a allele frequency between the normotensive and hypertensive patients with diabetes. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the ecNOS gene polymorphism can serve as a useful genetic marker of increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes and its renal complications.

Blood lipids profile in obese or overweight patients.

Elevated levels of total and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and low levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol are important risk factors for coronary heart disease. Another established predictor of cardiovascular disease is obesity. Obesity and overweight are widespread phenomena and they have reached epidemic proportions in the developed countries, including Poland. Only 30% of people in the Lublin region have normal weight (BMI<25). The aim of this study was to asses the relationship between BMI (body mass index) and blood lipids in the population of 83 people from Aleksandrow commune (64 women and 19 men aged 28-81) who spontaneously applied for medical examination performed as student research. Mean total cholesterol and triglycerides concentrations were higher in obese persons in comparison to normal weight subjects and HDL cholesterol concentration was lower in obese subjects as compared to normal and overweight individuals. Differences in mean concentrations of LDL cholesterol were not significant. A linear correlation between the degree of obesity and plasma level of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides was shown. In conclusion, obesity and overweight are accompanied by unfavourable blood lipids patterns and in a considerable proportion of overweight or obese patients other risk factors for coronary heart disease, such as hypertension, smoking, diabetes or family history of cardiovascular diseases coexist.