Evaluation of the clinical usefulness of a health-related quality of life questionnaire in patients with prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVES: The PROSQoLI questionnaire evaluates health related quality of life in patients with advanced prostate cancer. Although its utility in different clinical settings has never been assessed, its brevity and good measurement properties make its use recommendable in clinical practice. The objective is to evaluate the clinical usefulness of PROSQoLI in clinical treatment decision-making in patients with prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An observational, prospective longitudinal and multi-center study conducted in different Spanish centers. Sociodemographic and clinical data of patients and researchers were collected. Each patient fulfilled PROSQoLI questionnaire in each visit. Besides, physicians answered a survey about clinical usefulness of PROSQoLI questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 74.7 (7.4) years (standard deviation) and of researchers 51.8 (9.7) years. The usefulness in clinical decision-making was considered high by 66.1% of physicians; regarding questionnaire characteristics 71.3% of physicians considered it highly useful and 73.4% of them regarding doctor-patient communication. CONCLUSIONS: The use of health-related quality of life questionnaires improves doctor-patient communication. It is demonstrated that PROSQoLI can be an additional tool in clinical decision-making as well as a means of facilitating doctor-patient communication.

Megautricles: embryogenic hypothesis.

We present 4 cases of megautricle emphasizing the relationship between it and the ejaculatory ducts. We develop an embryogenic hypothesis to explain the different forms of megautricles in relation to the seminal pathway.

[Our experience in the treatment of superficial cancer of the bladder with BCG]. / Nuestra experiencia en el tratamiento del cáncer superficial de vejiga con BCG.

We report on our experience with 21 patients with superficial bladder cancer who were treated with intravesical BCG instillation. The BCG vaccine was effective in the treatment of carcinoma in situ. Tumor regression was achieved in 83.3% at 3 months, and 61.1% at 24 months. It is advisable to follow patients closely because of the possibility of tumor progression.

Inside-out kidney: unilateral herniation. Complication of cutaneous pyelostomy.

A case of unilateral kidney herniation through a cutaneous pyelostomy stoma is reported. Our purpose is to point out the likely causes of this complication and its correction.

Thoracic ureter.

We report a case of a somewhat dilated ascending and descending ureteral segment penetrating into the thorax with moderate symptoms. The diagnosis was made by excretory urography. To our knowledge, our case represents the first such report in the literature.

Fiberendoscopy in the diagnosis of the pathology of the ileal conduit.

The advantages of the exploration with flexible fiberendoscopy in the pathologies of the ileal conduit, as in hematuria, are commented. The method to be followed, as well as the results of the explorations in 2 patients are evaluated. This method has proved to be highly advantageous compared with the standard methods.