OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the effects of garlic (Allium sativum) on N-Methyl-N-Nitrosourea induced transitional carcinoma in Wistar rats.

METHODOLOGY: Transitional cell carcinoma was induced in thirty male, age-matched Wistar rats (45-50 days old) through intravesical instillation of 0.1mL of N-Methyl-N-Nitrosourea. They were divided into five treatment groups (0.1 mL of NSS; 0.1 mL of Mitomycin C; 0.1 mL of aqueous garlic extract in 10 mg/kg, 20 mg/kg, and 40 mg/kg given daily for the duration of the study); with one rat sacrificed every week (starting two weeks from tumor induction) until all rats were sacrificed after one month. The urinary bladders of the rats were subjected to histopathologic examination by a single veterinary pathologist. One-way ANOVA was used to compare mitotic index, papillomatous growth and vascularization of the specimens at Day 14 (baseline), 21 and 28. A P-value of less than 0.05 was used to detect significant difference.

RESULTS: Statistical analysis comparing mitotic index, papillomatous growth and vascularization showed no significant difference in the indices between the five treatment groups. It can be seen through that the P-value (0.144) for papillomatous growth was the smallest, which may indicate a trend towards a decrease in tumor growth at Day 28 for Mitomycin C and Garlic 40 mg/kg.

CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study showed a favorable trend towards decreased papillomatous growth in the MNU induced rat bladder carcinoma treated with aqueous extract of Garlic (Allium sativum) at a higher dose and longer duration of time.

Animal ; Male ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell ; Neoplasms ; Carcinoma ; Garlic ; Plants ; Urinary Bladder ; Rats, Wistar ; rats ; Plant Extracts ; Methylnitrosourea ; Nitrosourea Compounds

The presence of two or more primary carcinomas in a single patient is not a common occurrence. At present, relatively little has been published regarding those patients with urological cancer who have another concominant primary non-urologic tumor. Furthermore, only few have been reported regarding the occurrence of both adenocarcinoma of the prostate and squamous cell carcinoma of the lungs in a single patient. We present a rare case of a 68 year old male, a known heavy smoker, who after undergoing BPLND followed by a radical prostatectomy for a Stage I prostate adenocarcinoma, was diagnosed to have squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. Chemotherapy with Gemcitabine and Carboplatin was initiated. Presently, he has shown good response to the chemotherapeutic regimen and showed no biochemical recurrence for his prostate adenocarcinoma. We report this case to alert us physicians, that though rare, we should keep in mind that two or more primary malignancies can co-exist in the same patient.

Multiple Primary Carcinoma ; Prostate Adenocarcinoma ; Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Prostatectomy

OBJECTIVE: The review was conducted to determine the efficiency and safety of sildenafil citrate in female sexual dysfunction.

METHODS: Research databases used for this systematic review include Cochrane, Ovid, Sciencedirect, Journal of Urology and Pubmed. Manual search for literature utilized the following journals (The Journal of Urology, British Journal of Urology, and The Philippine Journal of Urology). Furthermore, correspondence from various institution-based researches (Unpublished: UST, St. Luke's, PGH, NKI) were also utilized. The search was performed using the following key words: female/woman, sexual dysfunction/female sexual dysfunction, and sildenafil citrate/phospophodiesterase 5 inhibitor. Limits of the literature search were: the human studies, English language, and randomized controlled trials/metaanalysis/systematic reviews/clinical trials; with no specified date limitation. Trials were identified for inclusion by two reviewers (MO, MG) using the main inclusion criteria mentioned above. Details for reason of inclusion or exclusion were thoroughly discussed and if unresolved, a third reviewer was sought for arbitration.

RESULTS: The studies included provided data on 1,471 patients, from which 1,195 completed the study. Out of the 8 articles, 6 were of high quality and 2 were classified as moderate quality.

CONCLUSIONS: In general, sildenafil citrate seems is efficacious in the treatment of female sexual dysfunction. Doses of 10 to 100mg were well-tolerated with headache as the most common adverse event. In pre-menopausal women, it showed a Level I evidence in terms of outcome measures (favorable female sexual response; and in post-menopausal women, it showed an equivocal result based on contradicting outcomes of moderate to high quality studies.

.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of the combined apical and basal periprostatic block in comparison to the traditional basal periprostatic block in reducing the pain associated with transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy of the prostate. Materials and Methods: This is a comparative clinical study of patients that underwent transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy of the prostate from June 2006 to September 2007 at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital. Group 1 with 40 subjects who received combined apical and basal periprostatic block was compared with Group 2 with 35 historical subjects who received basal block "alone. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to assess the pain scores. The t-test was performed on all epidemiologic data. The differences in pain scores were analyzed using multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA). P
Prostate Cancer ; Periprostatic Nerve Block ; Prostate Biopsy

Prostatic utricle result from incomplete regression of the Mullerian duct remnant or decreased androgenic stimulation of the urogenital sinus and occur most frequently in males with perineal or peno-scrotal hypospadias.  They may present variedly with recurrent urinary tract infections, recurrent epidydimitis and irritative or obstructive symptoms but they are usually asymptomatic. Various surgical approaches have been reported from open surgery (perineal, extravesical, transvesical, anterior and posterior sagittal approaches) to endoscopic techniques. To date, there are very few reported cases of prostatic utricle managed successfully with laparoscopy. We reported our experience with a 13 year old boy presenting with failed hypospadias repair, recurrent urinary tract infection and a large prostatic utricle cyst, successfully managed laparoscopically. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of laparoscopic utriculectomy in the Philippines (Herdin Search, 1904-2007; key word: prostatic utricle cyst). Laparoscopy offers a safe and feasible alternative to open surgical approaches. It has the advantages of better visualization of the surgical field, decreased risks of injury, shorter hospital stay and better wound cosmesis. 

X