Urology
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Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an increasingly important endpoint in prostate cancer care. However, pivotal issues that are not fully assessed in existing HRQOL instruments include irritative urinary symptoms, hormonal symptoms, and multi-item scores quantifying bother between urinary, sexual, bowel, and hormonal domains. We sought to develop a novel instrument to facilitate more comprehensive assessment of prostate cancer-related HRQOL. ⋯ EPIC is a robust prostate cancer HRQOL instrument that complements prior instruments by measuring a broad spectrum of urinary, bowel, sexual, and hormonal symptoms, thereby providing a unique tool for comprehensive assessment of HRQOL issues important in contemporary prostate cancer management.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Long-term results of a multicenter study on sacral nerve stimulation for treatment of urinary urge incontinence, urgency-frequency, and retention.
Many patients have chronic, debilitating symptoms of voiding dysfunction that are refractory to conventional medical or surgical therapies. This multicenter, prospective study evaluated the long-term effectiveness of sacral nerve stimulation using the implantable Medtronic InterStim therapy for urinary control in patients with otherwise intractable complaints of urinary urge incontinence, urgency-frequency, or retention. Each patient first underwent temporary, percutaneous sacral nerve test stimulation. ⋯ After 2 years, 56% of the urgency-frequency patients showed greater than 50% reduction in voids per day. After 1. 5 years, 70% of 42 retention patients showed greater than 50% reduction in catheter volume per catheterization. We conclude that the Medtronic InterStim therapy for urinary control system is an effective therapy with sustained clinical benefit for patients with intractable symptoms of urinary urge incontinence, urgency-frequency, or retention.