The Journal of urology
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The Journal of urology · Nov 2002
Immunoneutralization of nerve growth factor in lumbosacral spinal cord reduces bladder hyperreflexia in spinal cord injured rats.
We investigated the effects of intrathecal application of nerve growth factor (NGF) antibodies (Ab) on bladder hyperreflexia in chronic spinalized rats. ⋯ Increased levels of NGF in the bladder, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia were associated with bladder hyperreflexia after spinal cord injury. Immuno-neutralization of NGF in the spinal cord suppressed NGF levels in the L6 to S1 dorsal root ganglia, which contain bladder afferent neurons, and also suppressed bladder hyperreflexia. Thus, suppression of NGF levels in afferent pathways could be useful for treating bladder hyperreflexia associated with spinal cord injury.
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Estrogen may protect against kidney stone formation since nephrolithiasis is more common in men than in women. Moreover, the incidence of stones rises after menopause in women. We examined the contribution of estrogen to kidney stone risk by comparing outpatient evaluations in the 2 genders, and in estrogen treated and untreated postmenopausal women. ⋯ The lower risk of stone formation in women may be due to the lower urinary saturation of stone forming salts. Estrogen treatment may decrease the risk of stone recurrence in postmenopausal women by lowering urinary calcium and calcium oxalate saturation.
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The Journal of urology · Oct 2002
A critical analysis of the interpretation of biochemical failure in surgically treated patients using the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology criteria.
The use of prostate specific antigen (PSA) to indicate biochemical failure has become an accepted procedure to measure the effectiveness of therapy. Because long-term randomized studies comparing radiation modalities to radical prostatectomy are not available, use of biochemical recurrence as a surrogate measure of efficacy is increasing. Unfortunately, the definition of failure is not uniform among therapies. We evaluate how the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO) criteria affect the interpretation of failure when applied to radical prostatectomy. ⋯ The application of ASTRO criteria to a mature series of surgically treated patients with localized prostate cancer produced an apparent improvement in the probability of being biochemically free of disease at 15 years from 68% to 90%. Until prospective trials comparing these different therapies become available, caution should be exercised when interpreting outcomes between series due to the inherent differences in definition of biochemical failure.
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The Journal of urology · Oct 2002
Comparative StudyBladder function associated with posterior urethral valves after primary valve ablation or proximal urinary diversion in children and adolescents.
We retrospectively reviewed 2 series of patients with posterior urethral valves treated initially with valve ablation preceded by bilateral cutaneous ureterostomies or valve ablation alone to evaluate and compare bladder function behavior of each treatment group. ⋯ This retrospective study revealed that long-term bladder function of patients with posterior urethral valves treated with temporary supravesical diversion is affected more adversely than those treated with valve ablation alone.