Over the past decade, continent urinary diversion, especially orthotopic bladder substitutions, has become increasingly popular following radical cystectomy for bladder cancer. The ultimate goal of orthotopic bladder substitution is to offer patients the best quality of life, similar to that of patients with native bladders. To achieve that purpose, surgeons should be familiar with the characteristics of good candidates for neobladders, the possible intraoperative and postoperative problems related to the surgery, and the solutions to these problems. Postoperative surveillance and instructions given to the patients also contribute to successful, functional results. Here, we reviewed the indications, pitfalls, and solutions for orthotopic bladder substitutions and the patients' quality of life after surgery. When performed properly, orthotopic continent diversion offers good quality of life with few long-term complications. Therefore, we believe it is the best option for the majority of patients requiring cystectomy.
Cystectomy ; Humans ; Ileum ; Quality of Life ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; Urinary Diversion

Cerebral white matter changes (WMCs) and silent brain infarcts (SBIs) are common radiologic findings in neurologically asymptomatic elderly people, but are associated with an increased risk of subsequent stroke. We investigated the prevalence and risk factors for these cerebral changes on brain computed tomography (CT) in 480 community-dwelling healthy Korean adults without stroke or dementia, who were recruited for an early health program. Cerebral WMCs were defined as the presence of approximately 5 mm wide ill-defined and moderately hypodense lesions, and SBIs were defined as the presence of >2 mm wide well-defined hypodense lesions. Of the 480 patients, 49 (10.2%) had cerebral WMCs and SBIs findings on brain CT. The prevalence of WMCs and SBIs increased with age: the prevalence was 2.4%, 9%, and 32% for subjects in their 50, 60s, and 70s, respectively. In addition, hypertension, abdominal obesity, increased levels of homocysteine and high sensitivity C-reactive protein were significantly associated with cerebral WMCs and SBIs. Our study suggests that regular monitoring of risk factors is required to prevent cerebral WMCs and SBIs and decrease the incidence of stroke and dementia in healthy individuals.

PURPOSE: With recent technological advances, the indications for retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) have gradually increased. We evaluated the efficacy and treatment outcomes of RIRS for the treatment of renal stones. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 23 patients with renal stones (7 in the renal pelvis, 9 in the renal calyx, and 7 in the renal diverticulum) treated with RIRS from January 2001 to July 2008. Mean stone burden was 110 mm2 (range, 9.42-428.6 mm2), and all operations were performed under general anesthesia using a semi-rigid ureteroscope in 9 cases, a flexible ureteroscope in 11 cases, and both types simultaneously in 3 cases. The holmium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Ho: YAG) laser and the nitinol basket were used for stone fragmentation and retrieval. The patients were followed up postoperatively with KUB (21 cases) or nonenhanced computed tomography (CT; 2 cases). Success was defined as no visible stones on KUB or nonenhanced CT. RESULTS: The mean operating time was 93 minutes (range, 30-205 minutes) and the mean hospital stay was 3.7 days (range, 1-9 days). Of 23 patients, 16 (70%) experienced complete elimination of the stone after only a single intervention. After ancillary extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), the success rate was increased to 74% (17/23). In the remaining 6 patients, residual stone findings were less than 3 mm and were followed up with X-ray. CONCLUSIONS: RIRS is a feasible procedure for treating renal stone disease with minimal complications. The results of our study suggest that RIRS can be recommended as a primary modality in the management of renal stone disease in selected patients such as those with ESWL failure and renal diverticular stones.
Alloys ; Anesthesia, General ; Humans ; Kidney Pelvis ; Length of Stay ; Lithotripsy ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Shock ; Ureteroscopes

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma associated with chronic inflammation (DLBCL-CI), specifically arising in ileal neobladder, is a rare neoplasm. We present an unusual case of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)–positive DLBCL-CI arising within neobladder with detailed clinical, histological, and immunophenotypical features in an immunocompetent patient. An 88-year-old male was admitted for gross hematuria. He had undergone radical cystectomy and ileal neobladder 17 years ago for invasive bladder cancer. Computed tomography showed enhancing lesions on dome and posterior wall of neobladder with mucosal thickening and multiple enlarged retroperitoneal lymphadenopathies. Transurethralresection of neobladder lesion revealed the diffuse infiltration of large lymphoid cells which were positive for CD20, CD30, and multiple myeloma oncogen-1 with EBV-encoded small RNAs co-localizing, and diagnosis of EBV-positive DLBCL-CI was made. After multi-agent chemotherapy, the lesion disappeared. We suggest that clinicians should consider the possibility of DLBCL-CI in patients presented with hematuria during follow-up after bladder reconstruction.
Aged, 80 and over ; B-Lymphocytes ; Cystectomy ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lymphocytes ; Lymphoma, B-Cell ; Male ; Multiple Myeloma ; RNA ; Urinary Bladder ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms

PURPOSE: We investigated changing patterns of primary treatment in Korean men with prostate cancer (PC) and impact of sociodemographic factors on treatment choice from a nationwide cohort over 10 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cohort study of a 2% nationwide random sample of Korean National Health Insurance. A total of 1,382 patients who had undergone active treatments for newly diagnosed PC between 2003 and 2013 were included. Time trends in primary treatment of PC, including radical surgery, radiation therapy (RT), and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) were analyzed. RESULTS: Total number of patients undergoing active treatments increased significantly (162%). Surgery cases showed the most significant increase, from 22.4% in 2003 to 45.4% in 2013, while the relative proportion of ADT showed a tendency to decrease from 60.3% in 2003 to 45.4% in 2013, and the relative proportion of RT was variable over 10 years (from 7.2% to 18.4%). While treatment patterns differed significantly according to age (p < 0.001) and income classes (p=0.014), there were differences in primary treatment according to residential area. In multinomial logistic regression analysis, older patients showed significant association with ADT or RT compared to surgery, while patients with higher income showed significant association with surgery. CONCLUSION: Treatment pattern in Korean PC patients has changed remarkably over the last 10 years. Sociodemographic factors do affect the primary treatment choice. Our results will be valuable in overviewing changing patterns of primary treatment in Korean PC patients and planning future health policy for PC.
Cohort Studies ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; National Health Programs ; Prostate* ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Neoplasms* ; Radiotherapy

PURPOSE: To develop the dose volume histogram (DVH) management software which guides the evaluation of radiotherapy (RT) plan of a new case according to the biological consequences of the DVHs from the previously treated patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We determined the radiation pneumonitis (RP) as an biological response parameter in order to develop DVH management software. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of lung cancer patients treated with curative 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT). The biological event was defined as RP of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) grade III or more. RESULTS: The DVH management software consisted of three parts (pre-existing DVH database, graphical tool, and Pinnacle3 script). The pre-existing DVH data were retrieved from 128 patients. RP events were tagged to the specific DVH data through retrospective review of patients' medical records. The graphical tool was developed to present the complication histogram derived from the pre-existing database (DVH and RP) and was implemented into the radiation treatment planning (RTP) system, Pinnacle3 v8.0 (Phillips Healthcare). The software was designed for the pre-existing database to be updated easily by tagging the specific DVH data with the new incidence of RP events at the time of patients' follow-up. CONCLUSION: We developed the DVH management software as an effective tool to incorporate the phenomenological consequences derived from the pre-existing database in the evaluation of a new RT plan. It can be used not only for lung cancer patients but also for the other disease site with different toxicity parameters.
Humans ; Incidence ; Lung Neoplasms ; Medical Records ; Radiation Pneumonitis ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: The object of our study was to examine the clinical significance of pediatric testicular microlithiasis (TM) as it relates to testicular cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven boys in whom TM was incidentally detected were followed for a mean of 51+/-44 months (range: 9-119 months) for testicular cancer surveillance. The average patient age at the initial diagnosis was 9.8+/-2.5 years. The frequency of coincidental TM detected on scrotal ultrasonography performed for all clinical purposes at our institution between January 1997 and January 2008 was investigated. Eighty-two testicular cancer patients and 1,006 noncancer patients underwent ultrasonography between 1997 and 2006, and these patients were divided into two age groups (children, age <15 years; adults, age > or =15 years) for purposes of analysis. RESULTS: Of the seven patients followed solely for TM, none developed testicular cancer during the surveillance period. Coincidental TM seen on scrotal ultrasonography was significantly higher in the testicular cancer patients than in the noncancer controls (11% (9/82) vs. 3.5% (36/1,006), p <0.0001). According to the age groups, TM was found in 6% and 5.8% of the testicular cancer patients and the noncancer controls, respectively, in the children's group, whereas in the adult group, 11.6% and 3.3% of the patients in the respective groups were found to have TM. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of testicular cancer development in children with incidentally detected TM was very low, and the incidence of coincidental TM in children with testicular cancer did not differ from that in the noncancer control patients. However, the significantly higher incidence of TM accompanying testicular cancer after puberty may suggest an association of the two pathologies, which would then mandate cancer surveillance in cases of incidentally detected TM in this age group.
Adult ; Calculi ; Child ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lithiasis ; Pediatrics ; Puberty ; Testicular Diseases ; Testicular Neoplasms ; Testis

The funding acknowledgment in this article was partially omitted as published.

PURPOSE: According to the presence of proper muscle in the resected specimens from primary T1G3 bladder tumors, we compared the prognosis and investigated factors that were predictive of disease progression during the follow-up and upstaging after radical cystectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the records of 157 patients who were diagnosed with primary T1G3 bladder cancer for the assessment and comparison of disease recurrence, disease progression and patient survival. There were 101 and 56 patients with and without proper muscle in the their transurethral resection (TUR) specimens (T1G3 and T1xG3, respectively); 30 and 20 of these patients, respectively, had undergone immediate cystectomy. RESULTS: Among the patients who were followed up after transurethral surgery, there were no differences in the survival between the two groups. For the patients treated by immediate cystectomy, the 5-year cancer-specific survival was 100% for the T1G3 patients at a mean follow-up of 54.5 months while it was 76.6% for the T1xG3 patients at a mean follow-up of 46.0 months (p=0.042). With the absence of radiologic findings suggestive of invasive bladder cancer, 55.6% of the T1xG3 patients were upstaged after radical cystectomy, whereas only 12.0% of the T1G3 patients were upstaged (p=0.002). Between the followed-up group and the cystectomy groups, more patients in the cystectomy group had non-papillary shaped bladder tumor (75.0% vs. 38.9%, respectively, p=0.010). Similarly, the T1x-G3 patients who progressed during follow-up or who were upstaged after radical cystectomy had more non-papillary shaped tumor than the patients who were without progression or upstaging (80.1% vs. 38.5%, respectively, p=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: For primary T1G3 bladder cancer, non-papillary shaped tumor without proper muscle in the resected specimen is a risk factor for the progression during follow-up or upstaging after radical cystectomy that should warrant consideration for repeated resection or early cystectomy.
Cystectomy ; Disease Progression ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Risk Factors ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms* ; Urinary Bladder*

Purpose: This study aims to examine the performance of early warning scoring systems regarding adverse events of unanticipated clinical deterioration in complementary and alternative medicine hospitals. Methods: A medical record review of 500 patients from 5-year patient data in two traditional Korean medicine hospitals was conducted. Unanticipated clinical deterioration events included unexpected in-hospital mortality, cardiac arrest, and unplanned transfers to acute-care conventional medicine hospitals. Scores of the Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS), National Early Warning Score (NEWS), and National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) were calculated. Their performance was evaluated by calculating areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve for the event occurrence. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with event occurrence. Results: The incidence of unanticipated clinical deterioration events was 1.1% (225/21101). The area under the curve of MEWS, NEWS, and NEWS2 was .68, .72, and .72 at 24 hours before the events, respectively. NEWS and NEWS2, with almost the same performance, were superior to MEWS (p = .009). After adjusting for other variables, patients at low-medium risk (OR = 3.28; 95% CI = 1.02–10.55) and those at medium and high risk (OR = 25.03; 95% CI = 2.78–225.46) on NEWS2 scores were more likely to experience unanticipated clinical deterioration than those at low risk. Other factors associated with the event occurrence included frailty risk scores, clinical worry scores, primary medical diagnosis, prescribed medicine administration, acupuncture treatment, and clinical department. Conclusions The three early warning scores demonstrated moderate-to-fair performance for clinical deterioration events. NEWS2 can be used for early identification of patients at high risk of deterioration in complementary and alternative medicine hospitals. Additionally, patient, care, and system factors need to be considered to improve patient safety.