Urine Problems
High-intensity ultrasound waves heats and destroys uterine fibroids
|
|
A totally noninvasive procedure using high-intensity ultrasound waves to heat and destroy uterine fibroid tissue significantly relieves fibroid-related symptoms in women, according to the results of a multicenter clinical trial.
Magnetic resonance-guided, focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) allows radiologists to precisely target fibroids without harming healthy surrounding tissue.
Choosing the Best Kidney for Transplantation
|
|
Organ transplantation is subject to the law of supply and demand – in which demand for organs far outweighs supply from both living and deceased donors.
But results from a new, nationwide Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) study led by University of Michigan Health System researchers may offer new hope to some patients with end-stage renal disease waiting for a kidney transplant.
Delayed surgery for bladder cancer not harmful
|
|
Contrary to several recent reports, delaying bladder cancer surgery for several weeks after diagnosis does not worsen a person’s odds of surviving the disease, Swedish investigators report in The Journal of Urology. The author of a related editorial, however, contends that the sooner the surgery is performed, the better.
Recent research suggesting that delays between diagnosis and surgery in patients with bladder cancer adversely affects survival is “alarming” because it suggests that slow hospital routines influence patient prognosis, Dr. Fredrik Liedberg and colleagues from Lund University Hospital write.
Viagra improves urinary symptoms in men
|
|
Treatment with Viagra (sildenafil) can improve urinary tract symptoms in men with erectile dysfunction and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a common disease in older men that involves urinary symptoms due to enlargement of the prostate gland, according to study findings presented here Monday at a meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America.
“The improvement in urination with Viagra is dramatic,” lead author Dr. Kevin V. McVary, from Northwestern University in Chicago, told Reuters Health. “The improvement is on par with what we’ve come to expect from some of the medications commonly used to treat BPH symptoms. In fact, better than some of the other medications.”
Renal Week Debates on Drugs and the Kidney
|
|
The kidney plays a key role in the metabolism and excretion of drugs and is quite vulnerable to damage from many classes of therapeutic agents. At the American Society of Nephrology’s Renal Week 2005, a two-day course has been developed to explore these issues. During this course, the renal interactions of acetaminophen (Tylenol®) and rosuvastatin (Crestor®) will be discussed and debated. Internationally renowned experts will review these drugs and their potential to compromise renal function.
Crestor®, rosuvastatin calcium, arrived on the U.S. market on August 13, 2003, after obtaining approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce LDL cholesterol. At that time, Crestor® joined five other statins on the market.
Impact of incontinence varies widely among women
|
|
Although bladder-control problems can be embarrassing, the effect they have on quality of life varies widely among individuals, and even by country of residence, according to new study findings.
In a survey of nearly 1,600 women from four European countries, researchers found that while 80 percent found their urinary incontinence symptoms at least somewhat “bothersome,” they had wide-ranging views of their quality of life.
Urine test spots chlamydia in male teens
|
|
Sexually active male adolescents quite often have the sexually transmitted infection Chlamydia trachomatis but don’t know it. Investigators in California have found that routine urine screening for chlamydia is an effective means of diagnosing these infections in sexually active young men.
In men, chlamydia can lead to inflammation of the urethra and structures of the testes. Men can pass the infection to their female sex partners whose fertility could become compromised, Dr. Kathleen P. Tebb of the University of California, San Francisco and associates note in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
UK agency wants checks on drug-resistant E. coli
|
|
Britain’s Health Protection Agency said on Monday it wants better monitoring of drug-resistant strains of E. coli bacteria, which have spread rapidly in England and Northern Ireland in the last two years.
E. coli are common bacteria which normally live harmlessly in the gut, but can also cause urinary tract infections and blood poisoning and can be potentially deadly.
Two drugs better than one for bedwetting
|
|
For kids who suffer from frequent bedwetting—known as primary nocturnal enuresis—two drugs used in combination seem to combat the problem better than one.
Specifically, results of a clinical trial indicate that the combination of desmopressin (a synthetic ‘anti-diuretic’ hormone) plus oxybutynin (an anti-spasmodic drug used to treat overactive bladder) is well tolerated and produces “significantly faster and more cost-effective results” than single-drug therapy with either desmopressin or imipramine, an antidepressant widely used to treat bedwetting.
Drug may keep transplanted kidneys healthier longer
|
|
Transplanted kidneys may survive three or four years longer when treated with an experimental Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. drug instead of the standard drug cyclosporine, a study released on Wednesday showed.
A test of 218 transplant recipients at 22 centers in North America and Europe found that the six-month rejection rate for kidneys treated with either drug was equally low.
Kidney donor exchange programs catching on
|
|
Say you wanted to donate a kidney to a relative, but weren’t a match. Would you donate your kidney to a stranger who could use it, in exchange for a kidney from one of their relatives that was a match to your kin?
Seems like a good idea, and such plans are being set up.
A new Living Donor Kidney Exchange Program launched earlier this month by the New York Organ Donor Network will allow potential kidney donor-recipient pairs who are not suitable for reasons such as mismatched blood type to be matched with other willing donor-recipient pairs.
Type of dialysis makes a difference to death risk
|
|
For people with end-stage renal disease, those on hemodialysis tend to live longer than those who opt for peritoneal dialysis, according to a new report.
When kidneys fail, toxins in a patient’s blood can be removed by passing the blood over membranes that allow the harmful substances to pass through and be removed. An alternative to hemodialysis is peritoneal dialysis, a process in which fluid is instilled into the abdominal cavity and then drained after several hours, along with unwanted toxins.
The bladder does not shrink with age
|
|
Bladders do not appear to shrink with age, suggesting that urinary troubles in older people can no longer be considered a normal part of aging, according to new study findings released this week.
Investigators from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania found that women between the ages of 22 and 90 had bladders that could hold roughly the same amount of fluid.
