An Analysis of the US News & World Report Methodology for Attribution of Specialty Care in Otolaryngology and Urology.

US News & World Report (USNWR) rankings can assist patients with choosing where to receive their specialty care. USNWR methodology assumes that the specialty caring for hospitalized patients is equivalent to the specialty assigned by administrative coding. We examined the frequency of discordance between USNWR methodology-assigned specialty and the actual specialty care received for 2 surgical specialties, otolaryngology (ENT) and urology (GU). Our analysis included inpatient deaths identified by USNWR coding for these specialties from 2013 to 2017 at a single academic tertiary care center. We found that a minority of patients with deaths attributed by USNWR to these 2 specialties were actually cared for by ENT (6/14; 43%) or GU (3/19; 16%). Only 5 of 14 (36%) and 2 of 19 (11%) deaths were potentially associated with ENT and GU care, respectively. We identified a significant discordance between USNWR-assigned specialty and the actual specialty care received.

Management of Vesicoureteral Reflux in a Patient With Recurrent Febrile Urinary Tract Infections, Neurogenic Bladder, and Ureteral Triplication.

Ureteral triplication is a rare anomaly with about 100 total cases reported in the literature. In this case presentation, we present a case of ureteral triplication in a young female with a history of neurogenic bladder secondary to L5 lipomeningocele who presented with recurrent febrile urinary tract infections (UTIs) and vesicoureteral reflux despite antibiotic prophylaxis. Given her high grade reflux, she underwent ureteral reimplantation which ultimately led to resolution of her UTIs and reflux. Later in her clinical course, toilet training unmasked additional bladder dysfunction and she was successfully managed with clean intermittent catheterization and anticholinergics. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report to describe ureteral triplication, recurrent febrile UTIs and vesicoureteral reflux in the setting of a concomitant neurogenic bladder with a successful outcome.

Comparison of Robot-Assisted Versus Open Simple Prostatectomy for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Recent advancements in minimally invasive approaches for prostate surgery have provided numerous options for surgical management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In the setting of a large prostate, an open simple prostatectomy was previously considered the gold standard surgical treatment. However, the recently updated American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines on surgical management of BPH now consider both open and minimally invasive approaches to simple prostatectomy viable alternatives for treating large glands, depending on expertise with the techniques. The purpose of our review is to discuss the minimally invasive robot-assisted approach and compare it to the classic open approach to simple prostatectomy. RECENT FINDINGS: Despite longer operative times, the robotic approach is associated with shorter hospital stay and lower morbidity profile. The morbidity of an open approach remains significant. Blood transfusions are 3-4 times as likely compared to a robotic approach and major complications are twice as likely. Consistent with previous literature, our review shows functional outcome improvements like flow rate and symptom score to be comparable between the robotic and open approach. The amount of adenoma resected and PSA decline is also similar among robotic and open cases. Robot-assisted simple prostatectomy is a safe and effective procedure for BPH secondary to a large prostate gland. Appropriately, it is no longer deemed "investigational" by the latest AUA guidelines on BPH and recommended as an alternative to the open approach.