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Biomedical subjects

M P Wirth

Publications and source records attributed to M P Wirth.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

[Combined anesthesia with epidural catheter. A retrospective analysis of the perioperative course in patients ungoing radical prostatectomy] .

Patients requiring radical prostatectomy (rPE), including retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy are often aged and have coexisting cardiopulmonary diseases, increasing the risk of perioperative complications. The aim of the present study was to evaluate our perioperative anaesthesiologic regimen over the last five years, in terms of safety and patients comfort. Records of 433 patients who underwent rPE between 1994 and 1999 in our hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided in those who received: 1. general anaesthesia (GA) alone, 2. a combination of lumbar epidural anaesthesia (LEA) + GA or, 3. thoracic epidural anaesthesia (TEA) + GA. General anaesthesia was performed as balanced anaesthesia, and epidural administered local anaesthetics were bupivacaine 0.25% or ropivacaine 0.2%, 8-12 ml/h. In terms of intra- and postoperative numbers of tachycardiac and hypertensive episodes, a reduced stress response was observed under epidural anaesthesia (EA). Moreover, the weaning duration was shorter under EA and onset of gastrointestinal motility was found earlier ([h] GA: 50.6 +/- 11.1/LEA: 39.3 +/- 13.6/TEA: 33.8 +/- 13.0). Furthermore, a trend to rarer phases of postoperative vomiting and a significant decrease of in hospital stay of about one day ([d] GA: 12.4 +/- 5.8/LEA: 11.1 +/- 3.1/TEA: 11.5 +/- 3.8) was observed. The duration of personnel binding in the OR did not differ significantly between GA and TEA ([min] GA: 222.9 +/- 43.5/LEA: 238.2 +/- 41.8/TEA: 227.0 +/- 46.2), but ICU stay was shortened under TEA. Besides this, TEA reduced the number of pathologic postoperative thorax-x-rays. Senso-motor blockades, decreases of SaO2 and cardiac complications were experienced more frequent under LEA as compared with TEA. Combination of GA and EA, especially TEA, appears to improve perioperative care of patients undergoing rPE, in terms of patients safety and comfort.

Anesthesia, Epidural↗

[Testosterone and the prostate].

The normal development and function of the prostate, as well as its pathological growth, are governed by a lifelong dependency on endogenous androgens, the majority of which are of testicular origin. In contrast to other androgen-sensitive tissues, androgenic effects in the prostate are only exerted by the intracellular metabolite dihydrotestosterone. Conflicting evidence exists regarding changes of the intracellular prostatic androgen receptors in benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatic carcinoma. Equally conflicting is the clinical evidence concerning androgen metabolism in patients with manifest or metastatic prostate cancer. So far, there is no clear evidence for an increased risk of prostatic neoplasia with testosterone substitution in absolute or partial androgen deficiency. However, in view of the high prevalence of latent prostate cancer, caution is advisable.

Adult↗

Symptomatic paraurethral corpus spongiosum cyst in a male patient.

The case of a 25-year-old man presenting with lower urinary tract symptoms who was found to have a noninflammatory posterior corpus spongiosum cyst is presented. The case was successfully managed by surgical excision and presents an uncommon cause of lower urinary tract dysfunction through irritation of the posterior urethra.

Adult↗

Co-morbidity in prostate cancer.

With the widespread use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, prostate cancer has become the mostly common diagnosed malignancy in the United States. Because prostate cancer preferably affects elderly males and usually progresses slowly, there is an increasing interest in the significance of co-morbid conditions complicating the course of the disease. Several scores have been applied to assess the co-morbidity in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients and to estimate the impact of concomitant diseases on survival. Patients in their eighth decade of life, diagnosed with well or moderately differentiated localized prostate cancer and suffering from severe co-morbidity, are likely to die of causes other than the malignancy. Clinical trials evaluating different treatment modalities for localized prostate cancer need controlling and stratification for age and co-morbidity. The life expectancy of patients with only one controlled concomitant disorder, however, is not significantly compromised and the management of these patients remains controversial.

Journal Article↗

Is systematic sextant biopsy suitable for the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer?

BACKGROUND: The optimal extent of the prostate biopsy remains controversial. There is a need to avoid detection of insignificant cancer but not to miss significant and curable tumors. In alternative treatments of prostate cancer, repeated sextant biopsies are used to estimate the response. The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability of a repeated systematic sextant biopsy as the standard biopsy technique in patients with significant tumors which are being considered for curative treatment. METHODS: Systematic sextant biopsy was performed in vitro in 92 radical prostatectomy specimens. Of these patients, 81 (88.0%) had palpable lesions. RESULTS: Of the 92 investigated patients, 70 (76.1%) had potentially curable pT2-3pN0 prostate cancers. In these patients, the cancer was detected only in 72.9% of cases by a repeated in vitro biopsy. In the pT2 tumors, there was a detection rate of only 66.7%. CONCLUSIONS: This study underlines the fact that a considerable number of significant and potentially curable tumors remain undetected by the conventional sextant biopsy. A negative sextant biopsy does not rule out significant prostate cancer.

Aged↗

Intratesticular leiomyosarcoma in a young man after high dose doping with Oral-Turinabol: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Androgenic anabolic steroids have been suspected of activity as carcinogens in the development of carcinoma and angiosarcoma of the liver and adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Although the proliferation of smooth muscle cells is stimulated by sexual steroids, to the authors' knowledge a possible relation between androgenic anabolic steroids and the development of leiomyosarcoma has not previously been reported in humans. METHODS: A 32-year-old man underwent right radical orchiectomy for a tumor of the upper pole of the right testicle. Routine histopathologic examination and immunohistochemical staining were performed. RESULTS: The tumor was identified as an intratesticular leiomyosarcoma based on its typical growth pattern and the characteristic immunohistochemical staining profile. The patient reported a 5-year history of systematic use of high dose Oral-Turinabol (4-chloro-1-dehydro-17alpha-methylteststerone) that began at age 18 years and stopped approximately 9 years before presentation. CONCLUSIONS: The rarity of intratesticular leiomyosarcoma, the experimental induction of similar tumors in animals by androgens and estrogens, and the unusually young age at presentation of the patient in the current study support the hypothesis that high dose doping with androgenic anabolic steroids could have played a cocarcinogenic role in the development of the tumor in this case.

Actins↗

Locally recurrent malignant fibrous histiocytoma: a rare and aggressive genitourinary malignancy.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, 22 cases of locally recurrent urological malignant fibrous histiocytoma were reviewed considering therapeutic options, follow-up and prognosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the available literature on this topic we identified 19 cases of locally recurrent genitourinary malignant fibrous histiocytoma. Three additional cases are discussed, primarily arising from the kidney, the bladder and the paratesticular region. RESULTS: The prognosis of locally recurrent urological malignant fibrous histiocytoma was found to be extraordinarily poor. Only 2 of 22 patients have survived for longer than 3.5 years. One of them reported herein is still alive 10 years after extensive lymphatic spread accompanying the first local recurrence. In this case, late local recurrence occurred after an 8-year interval free of disease. CONCLUSION: Malignant fibrous histiocytoma is an unusual urological malignancy with a high rate of local recurrence. The latter is frequently accompanied by metastatic disease and unrelenting progression. Despite the poor prognosis early detection of local failure and aggressive salvage therapy might offer the chance of long-term survival in selected cases. Close and life-long follow-up is advisable for patients once treated for recurrent urological malignant fibrous histiocytoma.

Aged↗

Curative treatment of prostate cancer.

The guidelines for the curative treatment of prostate cancer presented by the German Society of Urology are discussed. They are based on the current knowledge of the outcomes of surgical and radiotherapeutic treatment for prostate cancer. Radical prostatectomy is recommended as the first-line treatment for organ-confined prostate cancer in patients with an individual life expectancy of at least 10 years. Radiotherapy can be considered as an alternative treatment modality, although current knowledge does not allow a definite assessment of the relative value of radiotherapy compared to radical prostatectomy. Locally advanced cT3 prostate cancer is overstaged in about 20% and curative treatment is possible in selected cases. Guidelines represent rules based on the available evidence. This implies that exceptions must be made whenever appropriate and that guidelines have to be reviewed regularly as new information becomes available.

Humans↗

Expression of the extracellular matrix signaling molecule Cyr61 is downregulated in prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (CaP) is one of the most common neoplasms in the USA and Europe. We used differential display PCR (DD-PCR) to identify genes related to the development of prostate cancer. METHODS: The RNA of 4 patients with untreated CaP was analyzed for differentially expressed genes. Using DD-PCR, we identified a downregulated cDNA-fragment in these prostate cancer cells. This fragment (N7) was cloned and further analyzed by CMRT-PCR, Northern-blot analysis, and in situ hybridization. RESULTS: Sequence analysis revealed that N7 is identical to the 3'-untranslated region of the recently described immediate early gene Cyr61. Comparative multiplex RT-PCR with sequence specific primers showed that Cyr61 is downregulated in the tumor tissue of 7 out of 13 patients. By in situ hybridization we could demonstrate that the expression of Cyr61 is restricted to the epithelium of the prostate. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that Cyr61 protein could be found in the epithelium of normal prostatic tissue, whereas prostate cancer tissue showed a marked decrease of Cyr61 protein expression. CONCLUSIONS: Cyr61 is a member of the emerging family of extracellular signaling proteins and enhances the effect of bFGF. The changed pattern of expression Cyr61 might therefore contribute to the altered interactions between epithelial and stromal cells in prostate carcinoma.

Animals↗

Splenunculus mimicking late local recurrence of renal cell carcinoma.

We report on a case of a splenunculus found in the renal fossa 14 years after left transperitoneal radical nephrectomy and splenectomy for renal cell carcinoma. The significance of splenunculi in differential diagnosis of space occupying lesions in the left renal bed is discussed.

Carcinoma, Renal Cell↗

Diagnostic significance of prostate-specific antigen velocity at intermediate PSA serum levels in relation to the standard deviation of different test systems.

Serial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) measurements (PSA velocity) as an additional instrument to detect prostatic cancer was introduced in 1992. It has previously been reported that PSA increase per year differed in the last 5 years prior to diagnosis in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (0.18 ng/ml/year), locally confined (0.75 ng/ml/year) and metastasized (4.4 ng/ml/year) cancer of the prostate (CaP) in contrast to healthy men (0.04 ng/ml/year). The ability of PSA velocity to detect organ-confined CaP in patients with intermediate PSA serum values depends therefore on a reliable and reproducible PSA result. The present study comprised 85 men with PSA values between 3 and 8 ng/ml (Abbott IMx). PSA measurements were repeated with Abbott IMx (n = 85 patients) and Hybritech Tandem-E (n = 59 patients) assays. The PSA serum values differed from one examination to the other from 0.02 to 2.74 ng/ml with the Abbott IMx. Standard deviation amounted to 0.35 ng/ml with the Abbott IMx PSA assay. Using the Hybritech Tandem-E assay, mean standard deviation was 1.15 ng/ml and therefore higher than with the Abbott IMx assay. The difference from one test to the other ranged from 0.05 to 4.05 ng/ml with the Hybritech Tandem-E. Using the Abbott IMx assay, 10.6% of all repeat measurements exceeded 1 ng/ml whereas in the Hybritech Tandem-E assay 62.7% of the second measurements differed > 1 ng/ml from the first PSA result. An increase in PSA serum values may therefore be due to intratest variation, physiological day-to-day variation as well as prostatic disease. It is important to notice that the intra-assay variation may be greater than the PSA increase per year in a patient with CaP. Therefore, PSA velocity seems to be of limited value.

Adult↗

Enhanced external counterpulsation as a new treatment modality for patients with erectile dysfunction.

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) is a noninvasive treatment modality which can increase arterial blood flow in peripheral and coronary arterial disease. Several studies have demonstrated an increase in the flow of the internal iliacal artery and in carotid and renal perfusion during EECP treatment. We investigated the effect of EECP in patients with erectile dysfunction (ED). Thirteen patients were treated with EECP for 20 days, 1 h per day. Patients reported a significant improvement of penile rigidity after completion of the EECP treatment and a significant improvement of penile peak systolic flow was measured by Doppler sonography. No adverse effects were observed. In conclusion, EECP seems to be an effective treatment modality in patients with ED.

Adult↗