Clinical Topics Conference: Chapter 17, Male GU

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  1. 60 year-old female with chronic cystitis
  2. 60 year old male with chronic cystitis
  3. 78 year-old male with urinary tract obstruction
  4. 59 year-old male with an asymptomatic prostatic mass
  5. Testicular mass in a 35 year-old male

Clinical vignette 1

A 60 year old woman complained of frequency, urgency, and pelvic pain with bladder distention. There was a long history of slowly progressive frequency and nocturia. There was no history of burning on urination or cloudy urine.

Upon physical examination, tenderness in the suprapubic arera was present. Upon cytoscopy, as the bladder was filled with saline the patient experienced increasing suprpubic pain with as little as 90 ml of fluid.

The patient was treated with oral sodium pentosan-polysulfate 50 mg q 4 days. This resulted in relief from urgency frequncy and nocturia.

Discussion topics

  1. What is the most common gender and age group that this disease occurs in?

  2. What is the most impotant pathological change in the urinary bladder that could explain the symptoms of this disease process?

  3. What are the theories on the pathogenesis of this disease?

  4. Discuss the procedures used for diagnosing cystitis. Is a biopsy indicated?

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    Clinical vignette 2

    A 60 year old man, who worked for 30 years in a dye factory, in Augusta, Georgia. This factory produced beta-naphthylamine (a blue textile dye). He and his brothers spent 10 years in the grinding room without masks or protective clothing where large blocks of this dye were ground into a fine powder. For many years, he has had several bouts of cystitis, characterized by urgency, dysuria and reddish discoloration of urine. During the last attack, he noticed considerable blood in his urine and decided to consult a urologist. Cystoscopy was performed, during which bladder washings were submitted for cytopathologic evaluation. The cytologic findings obtained during the examination lead to the diagnosis of malignancy, which was confirmed by biopsy. Total cystectomy was performed and the tumor was staged as T2.

    Discussion topics

    1. This tumor was most likely of which histologic type? What is the prognosis?

    2. List some possible exogenous causes of urinary bladder cancer.
    3. Describe the clinical features of early and advanced urinary bladder carcinoma.

    4. Which techniques are used to diagnose urinary bladder carcinoma?

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    Clinical vignette 3

    A 78 year-old man was admitted to the hospital early in the morning due to acute urinary tract obstruction that developed suddenly overnight. He could not void and felt distended. For the last few years, he had recurrent bouts of cystitis and, for the last two days, could urinate only with effort. A catheterization performed upon admission provided instantaneous relief. On rectal examination performed thereafter, he was found to have an enlarged soft prostate. A TUR of the prostate was performed and he was discharged without any residual disease.

    Discussion topics

    1. How could you distinguish BPH from prostatic cancer? Which tests should be performed? What is TUR?

    2. How common is BPH? Which age group is most affected? Could BPH be prevented? Is BPH a precursor of carcinoma?

    3. What are the typical clinical symptoms of BPH? What are the complications of BPH? What is the current medical or surgical treatment for BPH?

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    Clinical vignette 4

    This 59-year-old businessman regularly participates his company's annual physical examination program. The patient denied nocturia, dysuria, frequency, straining, changed force of his urinary stream, back pain, constipation, or weight loss.

    PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: The patient was a well-developed male with a temperature of 37.1 oC, pulse of 88 beats per minute, and blood pressure of 148/90 mm Hg. Examination of the central nervous system, cardiopulmonary system, a gastrointestinal system was unremarkable. Rectal examination showed no evidence of external hemorrhoids. Sphincter tone was normal and no rectal masses were palpated. Examination of the prostate demonstrated a 1.5 x 1.0 cm raised and indurated lesion on the rightlateral portion of the posterior lobe. Seminal vesicles were unremarkable and the prostate and adnexa were freely movable. Elevated blood levels of prostate specific antigen, was detected.

    HOSPITAL COURSE: The patient was admitted to the hospital urology service the next morning with the diagnosis of probable prostatic carcinoma. Trans-rectal needle biopsy of the prostate was performed and showed a well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent a radical perineal prostatectomy and bilateral orchidectomy during his third hospital day. PATHOLOGIC EXAMINATION: The specimen weighed 42 grams and was grossly identifiable as prostate with attached seminal vesicles. The immediate right lateral portion of the posterior lobe contained a 1.5 x 1.3 cm firm nodule. Serial sections of the gland in the transverse plane demonstrated a subcapsular focus of bright yellow tissue in the aforementioned nodule . The periurethral tissue was spongy and nodular. Microscopic examination of the indurated subcapsular nodule showed the presence of well-differentiated glandular structures formed by a single layer of well-oriented tall columnar cells with abundant vacuolated cytoplasm, enlarged nuclei, and prominent nucleoli. These glands could be found within perineural spaces; no extension outside the capsule or into the seminal vesicles was present. The peri-urethral tissue contained numerous adenomatous nodules. Final anatomic diagnosis was well-differentiated prostatic adenocarcinoma and benign prostatic hyperplasia. FOLLOWUP: The patient was discharged from the hospital during the second postoperative week. Postoperative complications have included only impotence without incontinence; no evidence of metastatic spread has appeared during the ensuing six months.

    Discussion topics

    1. Discuss the specific aspects of prostate specific antigen test and how this can be used to help screen patients suspicious for carcinoma.

    2. Describe how you would approach an patient in whom a presumptive diagnosis of prostatic carcinoma was made. Describe specific aspects of the physical examination, the reasons for the biopsy, x-ray examination and the laboratory tests.

    3. Discuss various imaging methods that could be used for early detection of carcinoma of the prostate

    4. Discuss the public health significance of carcinoma of the prostate and the diagnostic and therapeutic measures proposed to combat this cancer.

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    Clinical vignette 5

    HISTORY: The wife of a 35-year old man noted a small induration in his left testicle. Initially he did not do anything, but continued to palpate himself almost every day. After two months he concluded that the nodule was growing and his wife persuaded him to visit a doctor. On physical examination, the doctor confirmed the existence of a testicular mass, which could not be transilluminated and appeared to be solid but homogeneous on ultrasound examination. An orchidectomy was performed and a "nerve-sparing" retroperitoneal Iymph node dissection was performed. Chemotherapy was used thereafter. He is well five years after the diagnosis. He is sexually active and has had two children, born three and four years after his orchidectomy.

    HOSPITAL COURSE: The patient was admitted to the urology service of the local hospital three days later where he underwent a right inguinal orchiectomy with complete removal of the spermatic cord, contents of the inguinal canal, and intact testicle. While under anesthesia, the general surgeons performed a left scalene fat pad biopsy.

    PATHOLOGIC EXAMINATION: The tunica albuginea of the moderately enlarged testicle contained numerous dilated venous channels. The sectioned testicle demonstrated the presence of a homogeneous grayish white lobular mass which bulged above the cut surface and had a soft consistency. No foci of hemorrhage, necrosis, or extension beyond the tunica albuginea or into the cord could be shown. Microscopic examination revealed the tumor to be composed of lobules and sheets of large polyhedral cells with clear cytoplasm, centrally located hyperchromatic nuclei, and distinct basophilic nucleoli. The stroma subdividing the tumor was composed of fine strands of connective tissue containing moderate numbers of mature lymphocytes. The biopsied supraclavicular fat pad demonstrated only scattered aggregates of lymphoid tissue and few lymph nodes without significant histopathologic change.

    Discussion topics

    1. Discuss the histogenesis of testicular germ cell tumors and predict the histologic features of the tumor in this patient.

    2. Discuss the value of serologic tumor markers for the diagnosis of testicular tumors. Which hormones are of diagnostic value?

    3. Discuss the differences in the treatment of seminomas and non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT).

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