[Torsion of the spermatic cord. A clinical material on 109 patients]. / Funikkeltorsjon. Et klinisk materiale på 109 pasienter.

The authors review experiences from the operation of 109 patients for torsion of the spermatic cord at a single surgical clinic. The peak incidence was seen amongst adolescents. The patients reported the sudden onset of severe scrotal pain. Clinical examination showed a tender scrotal mass. About half of the patients showed testicular retraction or scrotal erythema. 22% underwent orchidectomy because of gangrene. All these patients had a history of more than 24 hours. On the other hand, 95% of patients with a vital testis had a history of less than 24 hours. Significant testicular injury will occur in a large share of these patients as well. The true urgency of this condition is emphasized.

Transrectal ultrasonography to assess local extent of prostatic cancer before radical prostatectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) with a 7 mHz rotating probe as a staging procedure in 33 patients with localized prostatic carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The ultrasound scans were compared to histopathological whole-mount step sections of the surgical specimens. Twenty-five of the patients had tumours with pathological stage T3 (pT3) and eight had tumours with stage pT2 giving a prevalence of extracapsular growth of 0.76. RESULTS: The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for detection of extracapsular tumour growth by TRUS of prostatic cancer were found to be 0.68, 0.63, 0.85 and 0.38, respectively. Six tumours showed solely microscopic foci of extracapsular tumour growth. CONCLUSION: This technique gives a high percentage of both understaging (32%) and overstaging (37%) and therefore TRUS is an unreliable tool in the staging protocol prior to radical prostatectomy.

[Single transurethral microwave therapy of benign prostatic hyperplasia]. / Engangs transurethral mikrobølgebehandling av benign prostatahyperplasi.

We have used transurethral microwave thermotherapy in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia since October 1991. Irreversible cell damage occurs when the microwaves heat the periurethral prostatic tissue. The urethra is simultaneously cooled, and is not destroyed during treatment. The patients are not hospitalized. Transurethral microwave thermotherapy is performed under local anaesthesia, no other form of analgesia has been found necessary. We have included patients with symptomatic prostatic obstruction who would otherwise have received operative or pharmacologic treatment. Patients with high residual urine, large middle lobe, urethral stricture, prostatic cancer, decreased renal function, urinary infection or metal implants were excluded. We observed a marked improvement in the Madsen symptom score after transurethral microwave thermotherapy. The score decreased from 12 before treatment to five after six weeks and 4.6 after six months (p < 0.0001). Flow increased from 8.9 to 9.7 ml/s. There was a significant reduction in the residual urine from 102 ml preoperatively to 69 ml after six months (p < 0.001). The volume of the prostate was only slightly reduced after transurethral microwave thermotherapy. Postoperative edema caused urinary retention in 13% of the patients. Two patients required transurethral resection of the prostata.

Radical retropubic prostatectomy: our experience with the first 54 patients.

Complications were analysed in a contemporary series of the first 54 retropubic radical prostatectomies performed for carcinoma of the prostate at our Institution. The postoperative morbidity was notable; three life threatening and ten minor complications occurred within the first 30 postoperative days. Thus, more than 1 year after the operations 7 patients had severe stress incontinence and 17 noticed minor degree of incontinence. Twenty-six per cent of the patients who claimed to be potent before surgery maintained potency. The operative time averaged 195 min and the demand for transfusions averaged 2.98 units per patient. Our experience in this early series of radical prostatectomy is that the operation cannot be done without notable postoperative morbidity.

Transrectal ultrasonography in the staging of localized prostatic carcinoma. A pilot study.

Transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) was evaluated as a staging procedure in ten patients with localized prostatic carcinoma. The ultrasound images were correlated to histopathological whole-mount step sections of the surgical specimens after radical prostatectomy. Nine of the patients had pathological stage T3 (pT3) and only one was pT2. TRUS gave a diagnostic accuracy of 60% compared to 10% both for digital rectal examination (DRE) and computer tomography (CT) in detecting extracapsular tumor spread. We conclude so far that TRUS is superior to DRE and CT in detecting extracapsular tumor spread. Further we state that whole-mount step section of the surgical specimens is mandatory in order to achieve a correct pathological staging (pT-stage).

Fine-needle aspiration cytology of focal liver lesions. Advantages and limitations.

Fine-needle aspiration cytology of focal liver lesions was performed 192 times in 175 patients over a 5-year period. Ultrasonic guidance was used for 153 punctures; the others were done peroperatively or on a palpable mass. A correct diagnosis of malignancy was obtained in 89/111 cases (80.2%), and of metastases (adenocarcinoma) to the liver in 71/84 (84.5%). The total of nonrepresentative aspirates was 26 (13.5%). The overall accuracy of cytologic evaluation was 87.5%, with 79.5% sensitivity and 100% specificity in malignant disease. The predictive values of positive and negative results were, respectively, 100% and 75.8%. There were no false positive tests, but 12.5% false negatives. No complications following the aspiration procedure were seen. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy is simple and safe, but the relatively high proportion of nonrepresentative aspirates is a problem. Possibly a more aggressive approach with multiple punctures may lessen this incidence and enhance the diagnostic accuracy in hepatic malignancy.