Dear Colleagues:
This, our first issue of 2011 is being published on the new UroToday International Journal on-line portal, which connects the global urology community to one of the most extensive urological collections freely available and always accessible on line. This proprietary platform creates an easy user interface, developed in consultation with UroToday readers, providing intuitive navigation and fast access to our on-line content.
In the current issue, Kollmeier and Bochner present results of a study that was conducted at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. They placed Visicoil linear fiducial markers (Core Oncology; Santa Barbara, CA, USA) into the bladder wall to counteract the effects of organ motion during radiation therapy for patients with bladder cancer. Their positive results indicate that such markers may help to improve the accuracy of radiation therapy.
Vijay et al investigated the effects of intraperitoneal or extraperitoneal carbon dioxide insufflation on 13 measures of cardiopulmonary and immunological response during urological laparoscopic surgery (N = 40). Although the mean intraoperative pO2 was significantly reduced from baseline, the results showed that CO2 insufflation had minimal effect on these otherwise-healthy patients.
Two of the current studies assess male infertility. Hussein et al compared the semen of 50 smokers with 50 nonsmokers and found that smoking had significant negative effects on some semen parameters, particularly sperm motility. Mohamed et al studied the impact of inguinal varicocele ligation on testicular volume, sperm parameters, and pregnancy rates before and after varicocelectomy in 50 infertile men. Three- and 6-months after varicocele ligation, ipsilateral mean sperm concentration and motility were significantly increased and mean testicular volume was significantly decreased. The partners of 24 patients (48%) were pregnant 6 months following surgery.
Trospium chloride has been studied for use in pediatric patients with idiopathic or neurogenic detrusor overactivity. Bürst and Wolf provide a synopsis of studies that have been reported in the literature.
Finally, Wu et al describe their experience using laparoscopic surgery for a patient with paraganglioma. Open partial cystectomy is typically used to treat these uncommon neoplasms because there is multilayer involvement of the bladder wall and concern about intraoperative hypertensive crisis. The authors describe their treatment procedure and share the outcomes.
With this issue, we announce the 2011 Editorial Board. I offer my sincere thanks to the previous and current board members and to all of the reviewers who share their expertise and assist us in publishing this journal. We welcome your continued submission of manuscripts and look forward to a productive new year.
Sincerely,
Karl-Erik Andersson
Editor-in-Chief
UIJ