Unlocking the molecular archive: the emerging use of formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded tissue for biomarker research in urological cancer

Rapid developments have been made in identifying predictive and prognostic markers in urological cancers. Most biomarker profiling has been primarily conducted in fresh‐frozen tissue taken at the time of diagnosis or surgery. The disadvantage of this process is that the sampled tissue might not be entirely representative of the tumour and there is a lack of adequate numbers and follow‐up to make clear conclusions as to a biomarker’s prognostic potential. Formalin fixation and paraffin embedding (FFPE) is the clinical standard for preparing samples for histopathological assessment; this preserves tissue architecture and allows the storage of diagnostic and surplus tissue in archival banks. This resource represents a vast repository of tissue material with a long‐term clinical follow‐up. With the advent of high‐throughput profiling technologies, there is a unique opportunity to screen and comprehensively evaluate many biomarkers. Such studies require the large sample numbers and outcome data which is a key feature of archival FFPE tissue. However, the process of FFPE induces chemical changes and degradation in tissue DNA, RNA and protein, which can make subsequent analysis unreliable. Recently, several technical advances have been made to overcome the degrading effects of FFPE. This review highlights the key advances that are beginning to allow the use of FFPE archives for molecular biomarker profiling.     

术中尿外渗导致腹腔高压综合征的诊断及治疗

目的 探讨泌尿外科术中尿外渗导致的腹腔高压综合征的诊断和治疗原则。方法 2013年5月—2020年8月诊治泌尿外科手术中尿外渗所导致的腹腔高压综合征患者19例,均给予内科综合治疗,其中2例同时行开放手术减压,对比治疗前后心率、血压、呼吸、动脉血氧分压、尿量、肾功能和腹腔压力的变化。结果 19例患者除1例死亡外,其余18例通过综合治疗均获治愈。治愈患者治疗前动脉血氧分压为(59.56±3.34) mm Hg、血肌酐为(164.94±75.10)μmol/L、尿量为(0.83±0.24 )mL/(kg·h)、腹腔内压为(23.61±2.77) mm Hg;治疗后上述各指标分别为(91.61±3.32) mm Hg、(160.22±76.01)μmol/L、(1.59±0.44) mL/(kg·h)、(14.06±3.92) mm Hg。均获明显改善,(t=23.07、5.63、8.67、12.18,P值均＜0.05)。结论 及时的内科综合治疗和手术减压是治疗术中尿外渗导致的腹腔高压综合征的有效方法,减少术中尿外渗才能避免泌尿外科腹腔高压综合征的发生。     

Urological complications and copper replacement therapy in childhood Menkes syndrome

Background: Urological complications are frequent in Menkes syndrome, a very rare X-linked recessive disorder of copper (Cu) metabolism. Aim: To evaluate the role of Cu therapy in preventing the progression of urological complications. Subjects and methods: We retrospectively enrolled 57 patients with Menkes syndrome (55 published case reports and two of our own unpublished cases) and investigated the reported urological complications, distinguishing the patients with or without Cu replacement therapy and evaluating the efficacy of this therapy in the prevention of urological complications. Results: The most frequent urological complication was bladder diverticulum (38.6% of the total patients); obstruction bladder outflow and rupture of the kidney were less frequent (both 1.8% of the total). The number of congenital urological complications increased progressively by age category; in fact, 77.8% of patients did not report urological complications at the age of 0.4±0.2 y, and 28.6% of them displayed ≥ two congenital urological complications at the age of 9.3±2.6 y. The percentage of urological complications found in younger patients not on Cu therapy did not differ from that of older patients treated with Cu therapy. A comparison between patients of the same age interval, who were or were not treated with Cu, showed that treated children had fewer urological complications than untreated children.

Conclusion: Our investigation suggests that Cu therapy in patients with Menkes syndrome does not prevent the progression of urological complications; however, it might delay their worsening.     

‘I've used the word cancer but it's actually good news’: discursive performativity of cancer and the identity of urological cancer services

Drawing on the ethnographic study of urological cancer services, this article explores how a set of particular discourses embedded in the everyday clinical work in a large teaching hospital in the UK helps materialise particular configurations of cancer and related professional identities. Emerging on the intersection of specific socio‐material arrangements (cancer survival rates, treatment regimens, cancer staging classifications, metaphors, clinical specialities) and operating across a number of differential relations (curable/incurable, treatable/untreatable, aggressive/nonaggressive), these configurations help constitute the categories of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cancers as separate and contrasting entities. These categories help materialise particular distributions of power and are thus implicated in the making of specific claims about the identity of urological cancer services as unique and privileged. Exploring these issues in view of feminist and material‐semiotic approaches to studying science, technology and medicine, this article seeks to move away from the understanding of cancer discourses as primarily linguistic performances, proposing to see them instead as arrangements of practices and relations simultaneously material and semiotic through which particular categories, entities and phenomena acquire their determinate nature. In doing so, it seeks to contribute to sociology's broader concern with discursive performativity of cancer.     

内镜辅助下小切口术式在泌尿外科中的应用

目的：评价内镜辅助下小切口术式的临床应用效果。方法：对42例患者行内镜辅助下小切口手术，其中根治性肾切除2例。单纯性肾切除3例（结核肾，无功能肾），盂管成形术3例，肾盂输尿管切开取石术2例，肾囊肿去顶减压术17例，肾上腺肿瘤切除15例。18例肾上腺肿瘤行腹腔镜手术。结果：根治性肾切除或单纯性肾切除手术时间平均120min，术中出血量约100ml；盂管成形术、肾盂或输尿管切开取石术。术中出血量约50-80ml；肾囊肿去顶减压术手术时间平均30-60min，肾上腺肿瘤切除手术时间平均110min，术中出血量约50-80ml。内镜辅助下小切口泌尿外科手术术中出血量、术后住院时间、手术切口长度与腹腔镜组比较差异无统计学意义；在手术时间和住院费用方面则优于腹腔镜组，差异有统计学意义。结论：内镜辅助下小切口泌尿外科手术具有创伤小、价格低、无需专门设备及人员培训的特点，易于推广普及，为泌尿外科微创手术提供了新方式。     

Glycine and transurethral resection

Fifty patients undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate were studied for evidence of glycine absorption and haemodilution. Plasma glycine levels increased substantially in nine patients and, in five, calculated irrigant fluid absorption ranged from 619-1582 ml; another patient had absorbed 1360 ml fluid with only a small rise in plasma glycine. Two illustrative case histories are presented. The role of glycine as an inhibitory neurotransmitter is discussed and the possibility of toxic mechanisms other than dilutional hyponatraemia is mentioned. Intravenous diuretics, hypertonic saline, and perhaps calcium salts, are recommended for the overt transurethral resection syndrome.     

Perioperative Medical Optimization of Symptomatic Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Is an Economically Justified Infection Prevention Strategy in Total Joint Arthroplasty

BackgroundAbnormal voiding dynamics may be a modifiable risk factor for prosthetic joint infection (PJI) after total joint arthroplasty (TJA), but the cost-effectiveness of their optimization in the perioperative setting is unknown. Using a break-even analysis, we calculated the economic viability of perioperative voiding optimization for infection prevention after TJA in patients with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).MethodsA perioperative voiding optimization algorithm was created to represent a common approach to treating symptomatic BPH before TJA. Treatment is initiated with a 6-week trial of tamsulosin (pathway 1), followed by 6 months of combination tamsulosin/finasteride therapy (pathway 2) if symptoms persist. Patients with unremitting symptoms after medical management undergo surgical correction with transurethral resection of the prostate (pathway 3). Costs associated with each pathway were derived from the literature and institutional purchasing records. A break-even economic model was constructed to calculate the absolute risk reduction (ARR) in the infection rate and number needed to treat necessary for cost-effectiveness.ResultsPathway 1 was cost-effective if it prevented 1 infection of 113 (ARR = 0.883%) TKAs or 140 (ARR = 0.714%) THAs. Pathway 2 was cost-effective if it obviated infection in 1 of 69 TKAs (ARR = 1.445%) or 86 THAs (ARR = 1.169%). Pathway 3 was only deemed cost-effective assuming a cost of $400,000 to treat a PJI (number needed to treat = 71, ARR = 1.406%). Cost-effectiveness for pathways 1 and 2 was maintained with varying voiding optimization costs, infection rates, and PJI costs.ConclusionPerioperative medical management of symptomatic BPH is an economically justified PJI prevention strategy, whereas surgical interventions appear to be financially substantiated only when considering the long-term societal costs of a PJI.     

Urological complications following unstented pediatric renal transplantation

Urological complications which develop post‐renal transplantation can be associated with significant morbidity especially in children. We evaluated the occurrence and management of all urological complications in a series of unstented pediatric renal transplants in a tertiary pediatric hospital. We reviewed the medical records of children who underwent unstented renal transplant between January 1996 and December 2014. Postoperative urological complications and the outcomes of their management were analyzed. A total of 160 unstented renal transplants were performed, and 32 urological complications were noted in 29 transplants (18%). There were 20 boys and nine girls with an age range of 2.5 years to 18.4 years. Nine (31%) of these patients had LUTD. The most common complication was VUR occurring in 17 patients (10.6%). Urine leaks occurred in six patients (3.8%) and ureteric obstruction in six patients (3.8%), and three patients (1.9%) had unexplained hydronephrosis. Loss of graft occurred in three patients (1.9%), and one patient died from sepsis post‐uretero‐ureterostomy. Patients with LUTD had more urological complications (P = .037). Unstenting is feasible in most pediatric renal transplants. LUTD is associated with a higher incidence of urological complications, especially VUR.