Blogs@BJUI

The March 2015 international urology journal club #urojc twitter discussion focused on a paper by Mason et al [1].  This article, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (Feb 2015), reports on the preplanned final analysis of the randomized trial of radiotherapy (RT) and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) versus ADT alone in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer between 1995 and 2005. The authors have previously reported on the survival benefits of RT added to ADT in this cohort…

The 30th anniversary EAU congress is currently taking place in the beautiful but rainy city of Madrid with over 12,000 delegates attending. The opening Friday proved a monumental day with the start of the congress as well as personally as I gave into the pressure of social media, and joined Twitter. This is being heavily promoted by the EAU this year and with multiple engaging sessions going on at the same time this seemed to be the best way to have my cake and eat it and enjoy highlights from different…

Fortunately injuries to the urinary tract remain rare in obstetric and gynaecological surgery. Their potential for causing serious morbidity, not to mention the substantial medico-legal implications ensure that it remains a highly researched and evocative area [1]. Iatrogenic urinary tract injuries can be broadly divided into two groups; acute complications, such as bladder and ureteric lacerations or ligation and more chronic complications, such as vesicovaginal or ureterovaginal fistulae…

The current issue of the BJUI contains a paper by Dubaja et al. [1] that may be of interest to physicians who have patients with hypogonadism. The authors speak to an unappreciated aspect of low testosterone; namely, the loss of bone in men and the possible recovery with treatment. Their retrospective study looked at 140 men with hypogonadism treated with exogenous testosterone replacement or clomiphene citrate testosterone enhancement. These men were also assessed for bone mineral density (BMD)…

Enzalutamide is a second generation non-steroidal antiandrogen (AA), which significantly improved overall  survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) after docetaxel (AFFIRM study), and OS and radiographic PFS before chemotherapy (PREVAIL study) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) [1]. Being a potent androgen receptor (AR) antagonist, an enzalutamide withdrawal syndrome (EWS) appeared unlikely [2,3]. In contrast with this position, and considering…

Since the new Editorial team assumed the reins here at the BJUI in January 2013, we have worked hard to embrace social media as the transformative communication technology it clearly is. While our priority is to only publish papers of the highest quality, we have also ensured that the reach and engagement of these papers are maximised using our social media platforms – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Blogs@BJUI. In this month’s BJUI, there are two intriguing papers that deal with…

Press Release A new analysis provides insights on what's considered “normal” for penis length and circumference in men. The findings in BJU International may be helpful when counseling men who are worried about their size, or when investigating the relationship between condom failure and penile dimensions. Some men are concerned about their penis size, and those who are preoccupied and severely distressed with the size of their penis may even be diagnosed with Body Dysmorphic Disorder.…

Testosterone therapy (TTh) in men with hypogonadism is becoming more commonplace among urologists, endocrinologists and even primary practitioners. While the definition of hypogonadism remains a moving target, the literature reflects very clear benefits of TTh in appropriately selected patients. As with any drug, the adverse effect profile helps to dictate the risk:benefit ratio and, over the past several years, numerous, primarily retrospective, analyses have provided mixed insights into the impact…

 Many investigators, including those from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and the Prostate cancer Research International: Active Surveillance project (PRIAS), have provided meaningful data to strongly support the increasing use of active surveillance (AS) across the world. There are a multitude of strategies to minimise excessive rates of prostate cancer over detection and overtreatment. After the diagnosis of prostate cancer, the single best is AS for appropriately selected men.  For…