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Arthur Mourtzinos

Publications and source records attributed to Arthur Mourtzinos.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Bladder necrosis following hydrodistention in patients with interstitial cystitis.

PURPOSE: Bladder hydrodistention is used to diagnose and treat patients with interstitial cystitis. This procedure has been shown to have minimal morbidity and provide symptomatic relief in a subset of patients with interstitial cystitis. We report our experience with almost total bladder necrosis after hydrodistention at 2 institutions. To our knowledge this rare complication has not been previously reported in the literature. We also reviewed the literature regarding complications of hydrodistention and discuss their possible etiology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We report 3 cases of bladder necrosis after therapeutic hydrodistention for interstitial cystitis at 2 institutions. All records were reviewed, and the clinical presentation, findings and treatments are discussed. A literature review was performed to evaluate the effectiveness and complications of hydrodistention for interstitial cystitis. RESULTS: There were 2 female and 1 male patient between ages 29 and 46. All patients had a previous diagnosis of interstitial cystitis and had been previously treated with hydrodistention. All patients presented with severe abdominal pain and had necrosis of the entire bladder wall with sparing of the trigone. Two patients were treated with supratrigonal cystectomy. A review of the literature revealed little data on the effectiveness of hydrodistention for interstitial cystitis. CONCLUSIONS: Vesical necrosis is a rare but devastating complication of hydrodistention. It can occur in young patients in the absence of a contracted bladder and it usually presents as severe postoperative abdominal pain. At exploration bladder necrosis with sparing of the trigone was observed. All patients required enterocystoplasty.

Adult↗

Repair of vaginal vault prolapse and pelvic floor relaxation using polypropylene mesh.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Innumerable techniques have been described for vaginal vault prolapse and enterocele repair including abdominal (open, laparoscopic, and robotic) and vaginal techniques. Recently, the use of surgical mesh in pelvic floor surgery has become increasingly popular due to the high incidence of recurrence with primary repairs and no surrogate material. The increasing variety of available materials and techniques, combined with a lack of well conducted clinical trials, make the choice of repair to use difficult. RECENT FINDINGS: This article provides an update review on the different procedures available to the urogynecologist and female urologist for repair of vault prolapse. We will also discuss a new surgical technique for the repair of vault prolapse, which recreates the sacrouterine-cardinal ligament complex and reconstructs the pelvic floor with mesh. SUMMARY: The best approach to vaginal vault prolapse remains unknown. Surgeon comfort and preference as well as proper patient selection remain critical. The use of graft materials in pelvic floor reconstruction should have limited use in a carefully selected patient population. There is a need for well powered, controlled, long-term, randomized studies with patient generated quality-of-life questionnaires comparing the short and long-term outcomes of these techniques.

Female↗

Management of renal cell carcinoma with vena cava and atrial thrombus: minimal access vs median sternotomy with circulatory arrest.

OBJECTIVE: To review our experience with approaches for managing renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with venous thrombi extension at and above the level of the hepatic veins, comparing surgery and peri-operative outcomes in patients with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with deep hypothermic cardiac arrest (DHCA) either by minimal access (MA) or traditional median sternotomy (TMS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: From 1986 to 2005, 50 radical nephrectomies with inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombectomies were performed at our institution using TMS (22 patients) and MA (28) techniques. Patient demographics were compared using Student's t-, Fisher's exact and Pearson chi-square tests. The duration of surgery, CPB, DHCA, mechanical ventilation, length of stay, and peri-operative transfusion requirements, were compared using the Mann-Whitney U-test. Estimates of survival were constructed using Kaplan-Meier curves and analysed with the log-rank test. Subgroups were analysed excluding TMS patients undergoing concurrent coronary revascularization. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in patient demographics or comorbidities between the MA and TMS group. There were significant decreases in the MA vs the TMS group (P < 0.05) in the duration of surgery, mechanical ventilation, length of stay and peri-operative transfusion requirements. When patients with coronary revascularization were excluded, the MA group had significant decreases (P < 0.05) in duration of surgery, hospital stay and transfusion requirements. Peri-operative mortality was not statistically different between the TMS (14%) and MA (4%) patients. Overall and organ system-specific complications also were not statistically different. The overall median survival in the TMS and MA groups was 0.62 and 2.84 years, respectively (P = 0.06, hazard ratio 2.02; 95% confidence interval, CI, 0.97-4.72). Patients with tumour thrombus extending into the right atrium had a median survival of 1.02 years, vs 2.84 years with no intracardiac extension (P = 0.15, hazard ratio 1.82, 95% CI 0.81-4.0). CONCLUSIONS: MA surgical techniques in conjunction with DHCA for the treatment of RCC with extensive tumour thrombus provides quicker surgery and a shorter hospital stay. In addition there was less requirement for mechanical ventilation and transfusion than with TMS. Our findings suggest that MA techniques provide significant advantages over TMS.

Adult↗

Current management of bladder exstrophy.

Bladder exstrophy is a complex anomaly involving the urinary, genital, and intestinal tracts and the musculoskeletal system. The diagnosis is made typically at the newborn examination or on fetal ultrasonography that is performed by an experienced observer. Management of bladder exstrophy presents several challenges, beginning with initial repair using the more conventional staged approach or the recently re-popularized complete primary repair technique. Major goals in the management of bladder exstrophy are preservation of normal kidney function, close observation for development of adequate bladder function including urinary continence, and provision of acceptable cosmesis and function of the external genitalia. This article provides a brief overview of bladder exstrophy and a detailed description of modern management.

Bladder Exstrophy↗

Identification of fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 mutations in urine sediment DNA samples complements cytology in bladder tumor detection.

BACKGROUND: Mutations in fibroblast growth factor 3 receptor (FGFR3) are frequent events in low-grade bladder tumors. To assess the potential utility of the detection of FGFR3 mutations in a screening modality, the authors analyzed urine sediment DNA samples from 192 patients in a retrospective study. METHODS: Urine sediment DNA samples from 192 patients were prepared. Seventy-two patients had undergone transurethral resection (TURBT group) of mainly Ta lesions and 120 patients had undergone cystectomy (cystectomy group). The majority of patients in the cystectomy group had more advanced tumors compared with patients in the TURBT group. DNA preparations were screened for FGFR3 mutations in exons 7, 10, and 15 using single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and DNA sequencing. RESULTS: Using SSCP, 67% of patients in the TURBT group and 28% in the cystectomy group displayed FGFR3 mutations. Comparative analysis of cytology results and FGFR3 mutational analysis were performed in 122 cases. Within the TURBT group, FGFR3 mutation analysis outperformed cytology. FGFR3 mutation analysis identified change in 68% of urine sediment DNA samples whereas cytology recorded the presence of tumor cells in 32% of the DNA samples. In the cystectomy group, cytology outperformed FGFR3 mutation analysis. Cytology recorded tumor detection in 90% of patients, while SSCP identified mutational change in 24%. CONCLUSIONS: Combining FGFR3 mutation results with cytology in both groups correctly identified tumor presence in 105 of 122 (86%) of patients. The greater sensitivity of FGFR3 mutation detection over cytology in identifying the presence of low-grade, superficial bladder tumors represents a potential new tool to complement standard cytology in screening patients for bladder tumors and recurrent disease.

Adult↗

A randomized double-blind prospective study evaluating patient tolerance of transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy of the prostate using prebiopsy rofecoxib.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the use of a prebiopsy outpatient analgesia using the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent rofecoxib (Vioxx). Urologists perform approximately 500,000 transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsies of the prostate per year, commonly without analgesia. Recent reports, however, have determined that a significant proportion of patients undergoing TRUS-guided biopsies have pain. METHODS: We performed a prospective randomized double-blind study of 56 men referred for TRUS biopsy of the prostate. They were randomly assigned to receive 50 mg of oral rofecoxib or placebo before TRUS biopsy. After the biopsies, the patients were asked to score the severity of pain by filling out a visual analog pain scale. At the end of 1 week, all patients were asked to mail in a questionnaire regarding the morbidity of the prostate biopsy, including dysuria, hematuria, urinary retention, postbiopsy fever, and rectal bleeding. Analysis was completed to assess whether rofecoxib decreased the patients' perception of pain. The postbiopsy morbidity of patients receiving placebo versus rofecoxib was compared. RESULTS: Thirty-seven percent of patients receiving placebo and 42% of patients receiving rofecoxib had significant pain (5 or greater on the visual analog pain scale). The median pain score of patients receiving rofecoxib (4.0) versus placebo (4.0) was not significantly different statistically (P = 0.3139) using a Wilcoxon rank sum analysis. The incidence of postbiopsy morbidity was not different. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm the findings of previous studies demonstrating that a significant proportion of patients undergoing prostate biopsies have pain. More importantly, we found that prebiopsy rofecoxib did not significantly decrease the patients' severity of discomfort. Finally, the morbidity after biopsy was not increased with the use of rofecoxib.

Aged↗