The Best of British

We live in a world that is getting smaller mainly because of global friendship, the Internet and the ease of travel. The British contribution to this should be a matter of pride for every UK urologist. Many friends and colleagues say that the BJUI has gone global, a decision that was made during the editorship of Hugh Whitfield and promoted under John Fitzpatrick. It was the correct move and has allowed British urology to maintain its prominent position in the rapidly changing world of academic publishing.

During BAUS 2013 we wanted our readers to know that the B in BJUI remains vital to the journal. We continue to publish and promote the best papers from UK for the benefit our local and international audience.

So here is the “Best of British” virtual issue, a selection of the most cited papers from UK in the BJUI in 2012-13. There are articles from every part of the British Isles proving that geography is not a barrier to quality.

It came as a surprise to me that Functional urology is the most cited section of the BJUI. We have highlighted a controversial but real life follow-up of patients having Botulinum toxin A injections for overactive bladder (OAB), a multicentre trial of a mini-sling and the natural history of urinary symptoms amongst ketamine users.

This is complemented by a Translational Science paper on the inhibition of stretching-evoked ATP release from bladder mucosa by anticholinergic agents. High-quality basic research with rapid translation is becoming real, thanks to the growth of Biomedical Research Centres in UK and overseas. We want to publish the best science papers and make them relevant to surgeons through Science Made Simple, a section that explains why our readers should care about science in a “dummies” fashion. The term “autophagy” is set to become as important as apoptosis.

Urological oncology is the largest section of the BJUI. There is considerable interest in prostate biopsies through the transrectal and transperineal routes and attempts at better imaging through MRI and perhaps Histoscanning. The role of surgery in high-risk prostate cancer is of particular relevance to British urologists within multidisciplinary teams as a number of our patients have aggressive, palpable and locally advanced disease. It is becoming clear that robotics can achieve oncological outcomes as robust as open surgery even in these patients. The Robotics and laparoscopy section of the BJUI has some of our most cited papers. We have given it prominence by featuring beautiful illustrations of  these common and evolving procedures in a Step by Step fashion on the front cover of our paper journal. Finally, a randomised controlled study evaluating the effects of metformin and lifestyle intervention on patients with prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy, has an important message.

While a number of new modalities of resection such as blue light and narrow band imaging are emerging, good quality white light resection by experienced endoscopists must not be ignored. It is not just about resection, however; adjuvant intravesical gemciabine found its way into a systematic review in patients with non-muscle invasive disease.

The Upper urinary tract often suffers at the hands of the bladder and prostate but is equally important. We have highlighted systematic reviews of ureteroscopic and percutaneous management of upper tract urothelial carcinoma, its surgical management by other modalities and the changing trends in stone disease that will be of interest to our endourological colleagues.

We have introduced a new Surgical Education section and bring to your attention the first results from the BAUS SIMULATE project, which combines technical and non-technical skills. This will be of great importance to every British trainee and indeed we are the international standard bearers in this field, thanks to your active participation.

We thoroughly enjoyed selecting this issue for your reading pleasure. A number of these articles have already been free downloads on www.bjui.org as articles of the week, and are now free to everyone as part of this virtual issue. They are further promoted internationally through our social media network and we are hoping to see a number of you at the BJUI SoMe course during BAUS.

Enjoy the highest quality, most cited articles from Britain. And be very proud, you deserve it!

Prof. Prokar Dasgupta, Editor in Chief, BJUI, Guy’s Hospital, King’s College London. @prokarurol

Scott Millar, Managing Editor, BJUI. @BJUIjournal