Dear Colleagues,
As 2009 draws to a close, it provides an opportunity to reflect on what has transpired throughout urology in this past year. Has the UroToday International Journal delivered value through the publication to the readers? Have the goals of the journal been fulfilled? Our goals are to accelerate the timely and widespread dissemination of new urological research findings and, ultimately, to impact clinical outcomes. It has been a year of rapid growth for the journal. The response from the readership has been fantastic, and we have received an increasing number of high-quality manuscripts. We have been able to achieve the objectives for rapid publication, thanks to the excellent work of an increasing number of reviewers and timely response from the authors. The Journal issues throughout 2009 have been read by over 40,000 unique readers. A wide variety of relevant and interesting subjects have been covered, and this is continued in the present issue of the journal. A few of the articles are highlighted here.
In a retrospective study of 204 patients over 10 years, Dickstein et al assessed the risk of developing upper tract transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) after finding an abnormal upper tract cytology specimen without overt evidence of tumor. The authors developed an observation strategy for monitoring these patients for urothelial tumor development. They found that upper tract cytology has a poor sensitivity for tumors of the upper urinary tract. Patients with abnormal upper tract cytology were 3 times more likely than patients with normal cytology to develop TCC. They suggested that patients should be carefully monitored for at least 6 years.
Mohanty et al compared tamsulosin taken alone or in combination with tolterodine in a group of patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and detrusor overactivity. Physicians may hesitate to prescribe the combination of drugs because of the risk of acute urinary retention (AUR). The authors found no AUR and showed that patients with the combined drug treatment scored better on many laboratory tests and self ratings of satisfaction. Their findings confirmed several recent studies on the same subject.
Shelbaia et al reviewed the effect of early surgical repair of penile fractures (as opposed to a more conservative wait-and-see approach) in a retrospective study of 16 patients. The authors reported the overall healing of these injuries and the patient’s ability to regain erectile function. They found the surgery successful at 3 and 6-month follow-up. This issue also contains interesting case reports of patients with rare disorders. For example, Hutchings et al described a patient with cervical cancer that metastasized to the kidney. Other cases are related to treatment complications. Vasdev et al described a patient with inadvertent bowel injury following routine suprapubic catheter change. Sallami et al discussed the procedures and legal ramifications of textiloma, a complication that is rarely mentioned in the literature. Finally, although few surgeons will perform reanastomosis of an amputated penis, it is interesting to read the microsurgical procedures used by Wyczolkowski et al for one patient.
We occasionally like to provide review articles on topics of interest to our readers. In this issue, I joined with my colleagues to review noninvasive treatment options for patients with neurogenic detrusor overactivity (Andersson, Dmochowski, Wein). The use of oral antimuscarinic agents as a first-line approach is discussed, along with transdermal or intravesical administration of antimuscarinics, intravesical administration of other agents (including vanilloids and botulinum toxins A and B), and electrical stimulation. The efficacy and adverse events are described for these procedures, all of which allow surgery to be avoided where possible.
All of us at UIJ extend our wishes for a happy and peaceful new year. It has been exciting to experience the international cooperation that we have found with the readers, authors, and reviewers of the journal, and we look forward to continued collaborations. I join with the whole Editorial Team in thanking you for a wonderful year.
Kind regards,
K-E Andersson
Editor-In-Chief
UIJ