Highlights and interpretation of urinary stone research at 2023 AUA / 中华泌尿外科杂志

The research highlights and latest developments on urinary tract stones at the 2023 American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting mainly include several aspects, including stone metabolism and basic research, drug treatment and dietary prevention, application of new technologies in lithotripsy, development of new equipment, and innovation in the combination of artificial intelligence and medical industry. In term of basic research, new breakthroughs have been made in the formation mechanism of Randall plaque and stones microbiology and proteomics. The update and iteration of new lithotripsy instruments make minimally invasive technology efficient and safe. The widespread application and in-depth expansion of artificial intelligence machine learning and imageomics have shown strong advantages in preoperative diagnosis and postoperative prediction. The drug treatment and dietary prevention for genetic related stone diseases have been given special attention. In addition, public social media platforms and medical self media have begun to provide more active science popularization and education for the public.

Vesico-ureteric reflux (VUR) management and screening patterns: are paediatric urologists following the 2010 American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the current practice patterns of vesico-ureteric reflux (VUR) management and screening among paediatric urologists and their relationship with the current American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines in managing and treating VUR. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A 17-question survey was sent out to 476 paediatric urologists who are members of the Society for Pediatric Urology (SPU). In all, 133 respondents answered the survey and results were included for all questions. RESULTS: Paediatric urologists who were surveyed were consistent with the 2010 AUA guidelines in the initial evaluation of children with VUR, continuous antibiotic prophylaxis for the child aged < or >1 year, and follow-up evaluation in children with VUR. Most paediatric urologists do not obtain a serum creatinine on initial screening of children with VUR. The new guidelines address screening of siblings of patients with VUR and most paediatric urologists were consistent with these recommendations. Almost one third of responders screened all neonates diagnosed with prenatal hydronephrosis regardless of clinical history or findings on imaging despite the recommendations of the new guidelines. CONCLUSION: We conclude that based on our present sample, most paediatric urologists follow the 2010 AUA guidelines on VUR management.