Articles in 2015

The antiandrogen withdrawal syndrome (AAWS) is characterized by tumour regression on treatment discontinuation. Here, the mechanisms of AAWS and the development of treatment resistance are described, and the implications for the development of novel drugs and the challenges associated with redefining the utility of older treatments are discussed.

A negative surgical margin in organ-confined prostate cancer is considered to be one criterion indicating a high-quality radical prostatectomy. Possible risk factors for positive surgical margins—including prostate volume, obesity or nerve-sparing surgery—have been investigated, but results are inconclusive. Cumulative evidence, however, indicates that surgical margin status is strongly influenced by surgical experience.

Publications in 2014 advanced our therapeutic armamentarium for bladder cancer. Molecular characterization might propel us into an era of targeted therapy, and immunotherapeutics might expand our options for patients with metastatic disease. We were also reminded that outcomes are inextricably linked to the quality of the transurethral resections we perform.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) remains a hot topic in urological research—more than 800 manuscripts were published on this subject in 2014. The most important advances included improvements in the understanding of the pathophysiology of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and the medical and surgical management of BPH and LUTS, with a particular focus on new combination strategies and advances in surgical technologies.

Postprostatectomy incontinence can be effectively treated using surgical implantation of one of a range of different devices, which have different mechanisms of action. Substantial differences in device performance exist, and largely depend upon individual patient circumstances. In this Review, Craig Comiter describes how individual patient characteristics relate to optimal choice of surgery in men with postprostatectomy incontinence.