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Mobile health (mHealth) technologies hold great potential to advance medical care. However, widespread adoption in urology, and medicine in general, has been limited by a host of factors. Recognition of these barriers to adoption may instruct more meaningful tool development and investigation in order to unlock the full potential of these digital health tools in our field.
An effective transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) is essential to achieve safe tumour clearance and to determine the biological potential of the cancer. Attention to surgical detail within a set-up that embraces evidence-based practice, training, quality standards, prospective audit and feedback will facilitate these objectives.
Genomic alterations in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer can be identified in plasma circulating tumour DNA. A large cohort analysis shows reliable detection of clinically relevant alterations through targeted cell-free DNA sequencing with a commercial platform, paving the way for liquid biopsy technology to be integrated into routine clinical practice.
With increasing global life expectancy comes increasing health conditions. Robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) is traditionally offered to patients under the age of 75 years. However, a new study on RARP in patients aged over 75 years has demonstrated outcomes that will challenge this convention.
Incontinence is a common complication of radical prostatectomy and can have a considerable effect on quality of life for men who have survived prostate cancer. In the past, management of postoperative incontinence has focused on rehabilitation and postsurgical management, but prehabilitation, in the form of pelvic floor muscle exercises and training, has the potential to improve postprostatectomy continence outcomes, provide patients with agency for their own health and improve quality of life in men who have been treated for prostate cancer.
Asia is traditionally considered to have a low incidence of prostate cancer, but the incidence and mortality of prostate cancer have rapidly increased across the continent. Taking into account this intracontinental and intercontinental heterogeneity, translational studies are required in order to develop ethnicity-specific treatment strategies.
Metagenome-wide association studies have led to the discovery of potential interactions between the microbiome and urolithiasis, but a lack of standardization has raised questions about the reproducibility, applicability and physiological relevance of metagenome-wide association study data. This Consensus Statement describes the formation of the first international consortium for microbiome in urinary stone disease — MICROCOSM — and the outcomes of a consensus meeting to develop standardized protocols for microbiome studies and generate a data repository, which are both publicly available via a secure online server.
