Management of lower urinary tract fibroepithelial polyps in children

IntroductionFibroepithelial polyps (FEP) of the lower urinary tract are relatively common in adults but rare in children, with fewer than 250 cases reported in the literature to date.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to address the experience of FEP management in children.Study designA retrospective multicenter review was undertaken in children with defined FEP of the lower urinary tract managed between 2008 and 2018. The data at 18 pediatric surgery centers were collected. Their demographic, radiological, surgical, and pathological information were reviewed.ResultsA total of 33 children (26 boys; 7 girls) were treated for FEP of the lower urinary tract at 13 centers. The most common presentation was urinary outflow as hematuria (41%), acute urinary retention (25%), dysuria (19%), or urinary infections (28%). A prenatal diagnosis was made for three patients with hydronephrosis. Almost all of the children (94%) underwent ultrasound imaging of the urinary tract as the first diagnostic examination, 23 (70%) of them also either had an MRI (15%), cystourethrography (25%), computerized tomography (6%), or cystoscopy (45%). Two of these children (6%) had a biopsy prior to the surgery. The median preoperative delay was 7.52 (range: 1–48) months. Most of the patients were treated endoscopically, although four (12.1%) had open surgery and two (6.1%) had an additional incision for specimen extraction. The median hospital stay was 1.5 (range: 1–10) days. There were no recurrences and no complications after a median follow-up of 13 (range: 1–34) months.DiscussionThe main limitation of our study is the retrospective design, although it is the largest one for this pathology.ConclusionThis series supports sonography as the most suitable diagnosis tool before endoscopy to confirm the diagnosis and to perform the resection for most FEP in children. This report confirms the recognized benign nature in the absence of recurrences.Level of EvidenceLevel V.     

Outcomes Following Percutaneous Microwave and Cryoablation of Lung Metastases from Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of the Head and Neck: A Bi-Institutional Retrospective Cohort Study

Annals of Surgical Oncology - The aim of this study was to report outcomes following percutaneous microwave and cryoablation of lung metastases from adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the head and...     

Creating patient-centered radiology reports to empower patients undergoing prostate magnetic resonance imaging

IntroductionAs we progress to an era when patient autonomy and shared decision-making are highly valued, there is a need to also have effective patient-centered communication tools. Radiology reports are designed for clinicians and can be very technical and difficult for patients to understand. It is important for patients to understand their magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) report in order to make an informed treatment decision with their physician. Therefore, we aimed to create a patient-centered prostate MRI report to give our patients a better understanding of their clinical condition.MethodsA prototype patient-centered radiology report (PACERR) was created by identifying items to include based on opinions sought from a group of patients undergoing prostate MRI and medical experts. Data was collected in semi-structured interviews using a salient belief question. A prototype PACERR was created in collaboration with human factors engineering and design, medical imaging, biomedical informatics, and cancer patient education groups.ResultsFifteen patients and eight experts from urology, radiation oncology, radiology, and nursing participated in this study. Patients were particularly interested to have a report with laymen terms, concise language, contextualization of values, definitions of medical terms, and next course of action. Everyone believed the report should include the risk of MRI findings actually being cancer in the subsequent biopsy.ConclusionsA prostate MRI PACERR has been developed to communicate the most important findings relevant to decision-making in prostate cancer using patient-oriented design principles. The ability of this tool to improve patient knowledge and communication will be explored.     

受体－A蛋白融合蛋白制备抗P物质受体血清及其特性

受体－Ａ蛋白融合蛋白制备抗Ｐ物质受体血清及其特性ＷａｌｔｅｒＫ．Ｋ．Ｈｏ（何国强）；ＡｌｅｘｉｓＰ．Ｋ．Ｃｈｅ，郑德枢（香港中文大学；香港生物化学系，香港沙田；广州医学院神经科学研究所，广州５１０１８２）本文报告了用直肠杆菌表达Ｐ物质受体－Ａ蛋白融合...     

Comparison of fascial and vaginal wall slings in the management of intrinsic sphincter deficiency

Objectives

To compare safety and efficacy of fascial versus vaginal wall slings in the management of women with intrinsic sphincter deficiency (ISD).

Methods

The hospital and office records of 79 consecutive women with ISD were retrospectively analyzed from January 1991 to September 1995. There were 43 fascial slings (group A) and 36 vaginal wall slings (group B). Parameter of evaluation included efficacy based on postoperative presence of stress or urge incontinence and number of pads used, complications, and miscellaneous factors, including length of catheterization time, length of hospitalization, quantity of analgesics used, and loss of work days.

Results

Baseline clinical and urodynamic data were the same for both groups. Pad use decreased from 6.9 to 0.6 for group A and from 5.7 to 0.3 for group B. Persistent stress and urge incontinence was present in 5% and 16% of group A patients and in 3% and 11 % of group B patients, respectively. Group A (89%) and group B (94%) patients were either very satisfied or satisfied with their surgical outcome. The operative time, hospital days, and days lost from work for group B patients (42.3 ± 13.4 minutes, 1.4 ± 0.9 days, 18.4 ±3.2 days, respectively) were significantly lower than for group A patients (84.2 ± 17.8 minutes, 3.7 ± 1.9 days, 28.4 ±7.8 days, respectively).

Conclusions

Both fascial and vaginal wall slings are effective in treating women with ISD. However, the use of vaginal wall slings resulted in significantly shorter hospital stay, decreased catheterization time, decreased use of analgesics, and decreased loss of days of work compared with fascial slings. Therefore, the vaginal wall sling should be the preferred surgical method of treating intrinsic sphincter deficiency.     

Spray-dried redispersible oil-in-water emulsion to improve oral bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs.

A physically stabilized dry emulsion dosage form reforming the original emulsion after rehydration was developed by spray-drying a liquid oil-in-water emulsion containing maltodextrin as carrier and sodium caseinate as emulsifying agent. Several oil:water as well as maltodextrin:water ratios were tested, the homogenization and spray-drying processes and the reconstitution properties were investigated and an optimum formulation was selected for poorly soluble drug incorporation, having an identical oil:water and carrier:water ratio of 10% (w/w) and a load of solid material of 20% (w/w). Lipophilic 5-phenyl-1,2-dithiole-3-thione (5-PDTT) was selected as a model drug. 5-PDTT release from the solid state emulsion was studied using an in vitro two-phase stirred model and the relative bioavailability of 5-PDTT in the dry emulsion was obtained in the rabbit after oral administration of the reconstituted emulsion, compared to a 5-PDTT-sulfobutyl ether 7 beta-cyclodextrin complex in solution. Incorporation of 5-PDTT in the oil phase neither affects the surface morphology of the powder nor the reconstitution, the droplet size or the drug releasing properties and, furthermore, allows a 3-fold improvement of 5-PDTT relative bioavailability in rabbit after oral administration. These results indicate that dry emulsions may be considered as relevant dosage forms to improve bioavailability of poorly absorbable lipophilic drugs.     

At the heart of the problem: congestive cardiac failure as a cause of ascites: A narrative review

Heart failure leading to cardiac ascites is an extremely rare and underrecognized entity in clinical practice. Recognizing cardiac ascites can be difficult, especially since patients presenting with ascites may have more than 1 etiology. Various biomarkers are available to aid in the diagnosis of cardiac ascites, though with differing sensitivities and specificities. Such biomarkers include serum albumin, ascitic albumin and protein, as well as serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). While serum NT-proBNP is a powerful biomarker in distinguishing the etiology of ascites and monitoring treatment progression, its cost can be prohibitive in low-resource settings. Clinicians practicing under these circumstances may opt to rely on other parameters to manage their patients. We go on further to report a series of 3 patients with cardiac ascites to illustrate how these biomarkers may be employed in the management of this patient population. Clinicians should always keep in mind the differential diagnosis of cardiac failure as a cause of ascites. The resolution of cardiac ascites may serve as a surrogate clinical marker for response to antifailure therapy in lieu of NT-proBNP at resource-scarce centers.     

Infant brain imaging using magnetoencephalography: Challenges,solutions, and best practices

The excellent temporal resolution and advanced spatial resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG) makes it an excellent tool to study the neural dynamics underlying cognitive processes in the developing brain. Nonetheless, a number of challenges exist when using MEG to image infant populations. There is a persistent belief that collecting MEG data with infants presents a number of limitations and challenges that are difficult to overcome. Due to this notion, many researchers either avoid conducting infant MEG research or believe that, in order to collect high‐quality data, they must impose limiting restrictions on the infant or the experimental paradigm. In this article, we discuss the various challenges unique to imaging awake infants and young children with MEG, and share general best‐practice guidelines and recommendations for data collection, acquisition, preprocessing, and analysis. The current article is focused on methodology that allows investigators to test the sensory, perceptual, and cognitive capacities of awake and moving infants. We believe that such methodology opens the pathway for using MEG to provide mechanistic explanations for the complex behavior observed in awake, sentient, and dynamically interacting infants, thus addressing core topics in developmental cognitive neuroscience.