(Objective) Transurethral enucleation with bipolar (TUEB) is an established procedure for treating patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In this study, the usefulness of TUEB was evaluated by comparing the preoperative and postoperative results.
(Materials and methods) A total of 45 patients with symptomatic BPH underwent TUEB at our hospital between February 2008 and August 2009. All the patients were assessed using the International prostate symptom score (IPSS), quality of life (QOL) index, overactive bladder symptom score (OABSS), maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax), post void urine residue (PVR), serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) measurement, and estimated prostate weight. Total operative time, enucleation time, enucleated tissue weight, changes in levels of hemoglobin, hematocrit and serum sodium, duration of urethral catheterization, and complications were also investigated. IPSS, QOL index, Qmax, and PVR were reassessed 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery. PSA reduction rate was also assessed 3 months after surgery.
(Results) The average age was 71.6 years (60-84 years), estimated prostate weight 53.2g (11.8-105.6g), total operative time 125.5 minutes (76-212 min.), enucleation time 96.1 min (56-169 min), enucleated tissue weight 32.3g (6-82g), and duration of urethral catheterization 2.5 days (2-7 days). Blood transfusion was not required and hyponatremia was not observed in any patients. IPSS, QOL index, OABSS, PVR, and Qmax were significantly improved 1 month after surgery. As complications, re-catheterisation was reported in 2 patients (4.4%), bladder tanponade in 1 (2.2%), and urinary incontinence requiring at least 1 pad 6 months after surgery in 1 (5.9%). Postoperative PSA declined by 89.8% 3 months after surgery.
(Conclusions) TUEB was a safe and effective treatment procedure for patients with BPH.

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(Purpose) For the management of patients with localized prostate cancer, a number of therapeutic options are available. To compare the therapeutic modalities, it is important and necessary to evaluate economical aspects based on cost-effectiveness analysis. In addition, the survival time adjusted by quality of life (QOL), quality adjusted life year (QALY), is more reliable than the crude survival time. Thus, the usefulness of the commonly used QOL utility indexes, EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) and visual analogue scale (VAS, 0-100 points), was investigated in prostate cancer patients.
(Patients and methods) A total of 81 patients with prostate cancer were included. The patients were asked to answer the four sets of questionnaires (EQ-5D, VAS, SF-36 and EPIC). The QOL utility indexes (EQ-5D and VAS) were evaluated in relation to the general and prostate cancer-specific QOL questionnaires (SF-36 and EPIC, respectively).
(Results) The results of EQ-5D and VAS were significantly correlated to all domains of the general QOL questionnaire (SF-36). On the contrary, no remarkable relationship of EQ-5D and VAS was observed with any domain (urinary, bowel, sexual or hormonal) of the prostate cancer-specific QOL questionnaire (EPIC). There was significant and close correlation between the actual values of VAS and the estimates of VAS calculated from SF-36 data (R=0.53, p<0.0001).
(Conclusions) The QOL utility indexes (EQ-5D and VAS) are pertinent to evaluation of QOL utility index in prostate cancer patients and can be utilized for cost-utility analysis. It is suggested that the accumulated data of SF-36 could be used by conversion to QOL utility index.

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(Purpose) We investigated the long-term results and molecular markers of outcome with selective organ preservation in invasive bladder cancer using chemoradiation therapy.
(Patients and methods) We examined locally invasive bladder cancer in 32 patients (30 men, 2 women; mean age at treatment 68.1 years) who underwent bladder-sparing protocols in the Department of Urology at Sumitomo Hospital between 2000 and 2005. The clinical stage was T2, T3, and T4 in 13, 16, and 3 patients, respectively. Our protocol includes aggressive transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT) and 46Gy radiotherapy (2Gy/fraction, 5 fractions/week) to the pelvis with concurrent cisplatin chemotherapy (20mg/body/day, 5 days/week, the first and fourth week, intravenously). The initial evaluation included magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), urine cytology, and cystoscopy with a biopsy. During follow-up, if the patients developed superficial recurrence, they was treated with TURBT and intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), while patients with invasive recurrence were advised to undergo a salvage cystectomy. We examined the association between the expression of the Bcl-2 family in pretreatment TUR specimens and patient outcome. The mean follow-up was 54.6 months.
(Results) The first assessment after the induction chemoradiotherapy showed that bladder preservation was achieved in 27 patients (84.4%). The actuarial local control rate with an intact bladder was 56.3% (18 patients) at 3 years. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year cancer-specific survival rate was 90.6, 84.0, and 66.9%, respectively. The 5-year cancer-specific survival rate was 75.0, 67.2, and 33.3% in T2, T3, and T4, respectively. Bcl-x positivity was significantly associated with a poor cancer-specific survival rate (log-rank test, p=0.038).
(Conclusions) Chemoradiation therapy for invasive bladder cancer can achieve survival rates similar to those in patients treated with radical cystectomy, with successful bladder preservation. Our results suggest that the expression of Bcl-x is a potential prognostic marker for chemoradiation therapy in invasive bladder cancer.

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(PURPOSE) Efficacy and tolerability of docetaxel-based chemotherapy against hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) has been shown lately. The objective of this study was to evaluate retrospectively the efficacy and toxicity of low-dose docetaxel in combination with dexamethasone.
(PATIENTS AND METHODS) Sixteen patients, with a median age of 69.5 years (range 54-85 years) , diagnosed with HRPC were administered a treatment regimen consisting of docetaxel (60-80mg/body or 50mg/m²) once every 3 or 4 weeks and dexamethasone 1mg daily at our institution between November, 2004 and March, 2010.
(RESLTS) The patients received a median of 11.5 cycles of treatment (range, 2-35 cycles) . Eleven of 16 patients (68.8%) had a ≥ 50% decrease in serum prostate-specific antigen. The median progression-free survival and overall survival times were 7.1 and 20.3 months, respectively. Grade 3 neutropenia occurred only in 2 patients. Infective endocarditis, gastrointestinal or cerebral hemorrhage, and compressive fracture were occurred in each patient.
(CONCLUSINONS) The combination of low-dose docetaxel every 3-4 weeks and dexamethasone daily was effective and well tolerated in patients with HRPC. However, it is necessary to pay continuous attention to side effects due to the frequent presence of comorbid diseases particularly in the elderly.

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Disseminated carcinomatosis of the bone marrow is caused by metastasis to the bone marrow and can cause disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), leucoerythroblastosis, and microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MHA) . The prognosis of this syndrome is poor. We report herein two rare cases of disseminated carcinomatosis of the bone marrow in association with prostate cancer. Case 1 involved a 61-year-old man admitted to our department with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Prostate biopsy revealed prostate cancer, and imaging studies were performed. Under a diagnosis of prostate cancer (T3N1Mx), the patient was treated using hormonotherapy, but died 2 months after admission due to gastrointestinal bleeding of unknown cause, refractory DIC, and cachexia. Bone marrow biopsy after his death revealed metastasis of the prostate cancer to the bone marrow. Case 2 involved a 68-year-old man admitted to our department with gross hematuria. Cystoscopy revealed non-papillary tumor in the prostatic urethra. Transurethral biopsy was performed and histology identified prostate cancer. Treatment was initiated with hormonotherapy and zoledronate. After 8 months, he complained of general fatigue and blood testing identified anemia and thrombocytopenia. Bone marrow biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma in the bone marrow. Alternative androgen therapy and chemotherapy with docetaxel was started, and the patient recovered from pancytopenia and general fatigue.

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A 68-year-old man underwent total cystectomy, urethrectomy preserving fossa navicularis, and an Indiana pouch urinary diversion in 1997. The histopathology was UC, G3, pT4 (prostate) . Nine years after the operation, he had multiple metastases to the inguinal and paraaortic lymph nodes (LNs) , and he complained of erosion around the glans. Histological diagnosis of the glans revealed recurrent UC to the urethra of the glans. We considered the possibility that the inguinal LN metastasis was due to lymphatic spread from a remnant urethral recurrence. Thus, a partial penectomy and inguinal LN dissection were undertaken. Systemic chemotherapy was administered. Remnant urethral recurrence after urethrectomy preserving the fossa navicularis and inguinal LN metastasis are rare.

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An 83-year-old man visited our department with a slightly enhanced mass of about 2cm in diameter, detected incidentally in the left kidney on computed tomography (CT) performed for other reasons in a different department. Fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography was performed under the suspicion of metastatic renal tumor and malignant lymphoma. Accumulation was observed in the mass but not in other regions. The tumor size was about 2mm on CT 4 months previously, indicating rapid enlargement. Based on these observations, a malignant renal tumor was diagnosed and laparoscopic left nephrectomy was performed. Pathologic examination revealed relatively large cells diffused within a background of many small lymphocytes and histiocytes. The large cells were positive when tested by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) -encoded RNA in situ hybridization. No clinically apparent immunodeficiency was observed, suggesting age-related EBV-associated lymphoproliferative disorder caused by an underlying age-related reduction in immunocompetence. This is the first report of a kidney-localized case in Japan.

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