Milk of calcium cysts masquerading as renal calculi.

Milk of calcium renal cysts contain a colloidal suspension of calcium crystals. By routine radiography and sonography in supine position this rare condition may be misinterpreted as renal lithiasis for which an unnecessary surgical intervention may be performed as it happened in our two cases that are presented here. Postoperatively, the characteristic finding of half-moon contour on upright abdominal plain views was lacking in one case, but in both cases computed tomography revealed the typical calcific suspension layering. However, upright plain views and computed tomography are not routinely performed in patients in whom a renal stone has initially been considered. This entity should be considered in the differential diagnosis of renal paracalyceal calcifications of obscured origin.

Post-intercourse versus daily ciprofloxacin prophylaxis for recurrent urinary tract infections in premenopausal women.

PURPOSE: We evaluated and compared the efficacy of post-intercourse and daily oral ciprofloxacin prophylaxis against recurrent lower urinary tract infections in 135 sexually active premenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Post-intercourse (group 1, 70 patients) and daily (group 2, 65 patients) prophylactic regimens of 125 mg. ciprofloxacin were started following a curative, conventional treatment of the initial acute urinary tract infection. Prophylaxis was maintained for 12 months and during this period patients were followed clinically and bacteriologically with urine and introital samples. Patients were subsequently followed for an additional year after the end of preventive treatment. RESULTS: While 3.67 urinary tract infections per patient in group 1 and 3.74 in group 2 occurred during an identical mean time of 12.2 months before start of the corresponding prophylactic regimen, only 0.043 infection per patient in group 1 and 0.031 in group 2 developed during prophylaxis (p < 0.0001). Before prophylaxis 86% of the vaginal vestibule cultures yielded gram-negative Enterobacteriaceae, equally distributed between both treatment arms, compared to 5.6% and 2.5% during postcoital and daily prophylaxis, respectively. The overall improvement in the incidence of the urinary infections per patient and the rate of introital colonization with enteric gram-negative bacteria was maintained after the end of prophylaxis, with a mean incidence of infections of 0.44 per patient (occurring in 34% of the total patient population), while 36% of all women had abnormal introital colonization. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term post-intercourse prophylaxis with ciprofloxacin proved to be equally effective as daily prophylaxis, and the major advantage of the former therapy was use of only a third of the amount of drug consumed in daily prophylaxis.

Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin versus epirubicin in the prophylaxis of recurrent and/or multiple superficial bladder tumours.

A prospective, randomized trial was conducted to evaluate and compare the effects of modified adjuvant intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and epirubicin regimens in patients with superficial bladder cancer. One hundred thirty-two individuals with recurrent and/or multiple neoplasms, i.e. at high risk for tumour recurrence and progression, were enrolled. After complete transurethral resection of their tumours, the patients received a 6-week course of BCG instillations or an early 4-week course of epirubicin instillations as their initial therapy. Those with stage Ta and grade 1 neoplasms who remained free of recurrences received maintenance therapy consisting of single quarterly instillations. However, for those with stage T1 cancer of any grade or stage Ta of grade 2 or 3 neoplasms who also remained free of recurrences, the treatment schedules were modified: they received, instead of single maintenance doses, 3 weekly instillations of epirubicin at months 3 and 6 of follow-up, or a 3-week course of BCG at month 6 of follow-up. The recurrence-free rates did not differ significantly between the two study groups (44% for epirubicin versus 55% for BCG), for an identical median follow-up of 43 months. However, in terms of relative risk of recurrences, disease-free intervals and recurrence rate per 100 patient-months, a significant benefit in favour of BCG when compared with epirubicin was demonstrated in patients who had stage T1 or grade 3 neoplasms.

Nonfunctional adrenal cortical carcinoma. Report of a case and review of the literature.

Nonfunctional carcinomas of the adrenal gland are quite rare. By presenting a 47-year-old woman with such a tumour, a review of the literature is made, with special emphasis on the epidemiology and histologic criteria in predicting malignant behaviour. In addition, the clinical, pathological and radiographic findings, as well as the treatment modalities of this neoplasm are discussed.

BCG versus epirubicin in the prophylaxis of multiple superficial bladder tumours: results of a prospective randomized study using modified treatment schemes.

A prospective randomized trial on 94 eligible patients evaluated and compared the efficacy of adjuvant intravesical epirubicin and bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) after complete resection of multifocal superficial bladder cancer. BCG treatment schedule consisted of an induction 6-week course of instillations (150 mg Pasteur BCG per instillation) and single maintenance doses to patients who remained free of recurrences at follow-up examinations for a total treatment period of 2 years. These initial responders received additionally a separate 4-week course of therapy 6 months after the start of treatment. Chemoprophylaxis included an early (on the second postoperative day) instillation followed by 4 weekly treatments with epirubicin (50 mg per instillation) and then by 10 monthly treatments for the initial responders during the first year of follow-up and at every follow-up examination for a total treatment period of 2 years. The overall treatment results did not differ significantly between the 2 arms (54% of patients of the epirubicin group remained free of recurrences compared to 65% of those treated with BCG) for an identical mean follow-up of 35.1 months. However, a significant benefit in favour of BCG when compared with epirubicin was shown in patients who had stage T1 and grade 3 tumours and in terms of relative risk of recurrences, disease-free interval and recurrence rate per 100 patient-months. Both drugs were proved to be safe with manageable toxicity.