Christopher J Luscombe

• MD FRCS (Urol)
• Consultant at Keele University

Objectives To analyze our practice of drainless and catheterless day‐case minimal‐access pyeloplasty with regard to feasibility, safety and long‐term outcomes. Methods Patients undergoing minimal‐access pyeloplasty (laparoscopic, with or without robotic assistance) in a single center between 2007 and 2020 were included in this retrospective observ...

Background: High-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (HR-NMIBC) is a clinically unpredictable disease. Despite clinical risk estimation tools, many patients are undertreated with intra-vesical therapies alone, whereas others may be over-treated with early radical surgery. Molecular biomarkers, particularly DNA methylation, have been reported a...

High-grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (HG-NMIBC) is a clinically unpredictable disease with greater risks of recurrence and progression relative to their low-intermediate-grade counterparts. The molecular events, including those affecting the epigenome, that characterize this disease entity in the context of tumor development, recurrence, a...

Objective The objective of this article is to review the outcomes of our updated single-centre extended experience of an innovative enhanced recovery pathway to perform catheter- and drain-free laparoscopic pyeloplasties, achieving safe discharge within 23 hours of surgery. Patients and methods We conducted a retrospective review of patients who u...

Introduction: Inappropriate DNA methylation is frequently associated with human tumour development, and in specific cases, is associated with clinical outcomes. Previous reports of DNA methylation in low/intermediate grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) have suggested that specific patterns of DNA methylation may have a role as diagnos...

Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) affects ∼1% of children. We present an unusual case of urinary retention secondary to an obstructing urethral stone, underlying reflux, and its management. A 7-year-old boy presenting with acute urinary retention had a palpable penile shaft swelling and patent urethral meatus on examination. Cysto-urethroscopy with a 6.6...

We report our experience with bilateral hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy in patients with adult polycystic kidney disease. Between November 2009 and November 2010, 3 patients with adult polycystic kidney disease underwent bilateral hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy in our institution. Indications for bilateral nephrectomy included recurr...

The current first-line recommended modality for nephrectomy is by the laparoscopic approach. This is one of the most frequent laparoscopic interventions conducted in urology. From a skills acquisition and delivery perspective in minimally invasive urologic surgery, there is a paucity of objective scoring systems for advanced laparoscopic urologic p...

To determine whether day-case surgery (DS) laparoscopic pyeloplasty (LP) is feasible and safe. Thirty-two consecutive patients, planned for DS LP between March 2006 and January 2010 at a single urologic center, were enrolled in this retrospective observational study. Every patient underwent LP after a standard pathway of care for DS. We collected d...

To report our initial experience with day case surgery (DS) laparoscopic nephrectomy (LN) and to assess its feasibility and safety. Twenty-six consecutive patients, planned for DS LN between January 2006 and December 2009 at a single urologic center, were enrolled in this retrospective observational study. Every patient underwent LN after a standar...

Laparoscopic nephrectomy tends to become the new gold standard surgical technique in a selected population (non-functioning kidney, localised renal cell carcinoma). Day surgery is a popular pathway of care and, procedures of ever-increasing complexity are being considered. The aim of the study was to report the postoperative complications of day ca...

With the increasing prevalence of prostate cancer and evolving methods for the definitive treatment of OCPCa, health economic analyses will be critically important, albeit difficult to carry out. Preliminary studies point to RPP as the most cost-effective treatment for OCPCa. The quickest postoperative recovery, in experienced hands, occurs in RARP...

Methods: We studied patients with colorectal cancer (n ¼ 11,74 AE 11y) and age-matched healthy controls (n ¼ 8,64 AE 3y). We measured plasma myoglobin concentration, leg muscle mass (LMM) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and psoas muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) by computerized axial tomography (CT) (at the L3 vertebra). Results: Plasma...

The incidence of side effects is also less using a transperineal template approach rather than the transrectal saturation technique. Haematuria occurs less often as the biopsy needles pass parallel to, rather than perpendicular and through, the urethra. Sepsis is very uncommon as the biopsy needles do not pass through the rectum, and the perineal s...

To examine the results of open partial nephrectomy (OPN) over a 15-year period in a large UK teaching hospital and to compare results with other series including minimally invasive techniques, as nephron-sparing techniques are still under-utilized in the surgical treatment of renal carcinoma. A standardized technique is described that we think mini...

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms are prostate cancer risk candidates. We determined if SNPs in haplotype block sub-regions C2 (SNPs C2-1, G/C(3436), C2-2, A/G(3944)) or C1 (C1-1, C/T(20965), C1-2, C/T(30056)) are associated with risk in an ultraviolet radiation (UVR)-dependent manner. In men with very low exposure, SNPs in both sub-regions we...

Ultraviolet radiation exposure increases basal cell carcinoma (BCC) risk, but may be protective against prostate cancer. We attempted to identify exposure patterns that confer reduced prostate cancer risk without increasing that of BCC. We used a questionnaire to assess exposure in 528 prostate cancer patients and 442 men with basal cell carcinoma,...

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) has been inversely associated with prostate cancer risk. We determined if skin type and UVR exposure are linked with parameters of prostate cancer outcome. We used a questionnaire to determine UVR exposure parameters and skin type in 553 men with prostate cancer and, using logistic regression and survival ana...

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) may protect against prostate cancer via a mechanism involving vitamin D. Thus, the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene is a susceptibility candidate, though published data are discrepant. We studied the association of prostate cancer risk with five VDR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): G/A(1229) (SNP 1), A/G(3944) (SNP 2...

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) may protect against prostate cancer via a mechanism involving vitamin D. Thus, the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene is a susceptibility candidate, though published data are discrepant. We studied the association of prostate cancer risk with five VDR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): G/A(1229) (SNP 1), A/G(3944) (SNP 2...

Prostate cancer responds initially to hormonal manipulation by androgen withdrawal and peripheral androgen blockade. The inevitable progression to a hormone-refractory state is accompanied by an exacerbation of local symptoms and metastatic spread, principally to the bones, which has a considerable impact on quality of life and survival. Treatment...

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure may protect against prostate cancer development via a mechanism involving vitamin D. The vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene is therefore a candidate susceptibility factor for prostate cancer. This possibility has been previously investigated with conflicting results. We examined the association of VDR genotypes (vari...

Low sunlight exposure confers increased prostate cancer risk. In a study conducted in northern England, we investigated how combinations of exposure measures affect this risk. Recursive partitioning was used to identify combinations of exposure parameters that distinguished 453 prostate cancers from 312 benign hypertrophy patients. Sunbathing score...

Recent studies have proposed that exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) protects against development of some internal cancers including that in prostate. This effect may be mediated by UVR-induced cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D. It is also proposed that ability to pigment in response to UVR will influence susceptibility to prostate cancer throu...

Recent studies have suggested that exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation may be protective to some internal cancers including that in the prostate. We describe a confirmatory study in 212 prostatic adenocarcinoma and 135 benign prostatic hypertrophy patients designed to determine whether previous findings showing a protective effect for UV exposur...

We determined whether the glutathione S-transferase GSTP1 Ile105 --> Val105 substitution is associated with response to androgen ablation therapy in patients with advanced prostate cancer. As response may be associated with tumor grade, Gleason score, clinical T stage and presence of metastases we also determined if GSTP1 genotypes were associated...

Rapid access diagnostic clinics are widely used by many medical specialities to ensure early diagnosis of serious pathology. Urologists are familiar with haematuria and prostate assessment clinics, but diagnostic testicular swelling clinics are unusual. We report the 5 year experience of such a clinic. Patients were referred to the clinic as either...

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation may reduce prostate cancer risk, suggesting that polymorphism in genes that mediate host pigmentation will be associated with susceptibility to this cancer. We studied 210 prostate cancer cases and 155 controls to determine whether vitamin D receptor (VDR, Taql and Fokl variants), tyrosinase (TYR, codon 192 variant...

Epidemiological studies have suggested that UV exerts a protective effect on prostate cancer. Accordingly, we determined, in 210 prostate cancer cases, whether parameters of exposure, skin type and polymorphism in MC1R, VDR and TYR were associated with the outcome parameters, histological grade, clinical stage and presence of bone metastases. We us...

A positive association between latitude and prostate cancer mortality has been interpreted to indicate that ultraviolet radiation (UVR) protects against development of this cancer. We aimed to examine this hypothesis. We compared exposure between 210 cases and 155 controls. Childhood sunburn (odds ratio 0.18, 95% CI 0.08-0.38), regular foreign holi...

Epidemiological studies have suggested that UV exerts a protective effect on prostate cancer. Accordingly, we determined, in 210 prostate cancer cases, whether parameters of exposure, skin type and polymorphism in MC1R, VDR and TYR were associated with the outcome parameters, histological grade, clinical stage and presence of bone metastases. We us...

EDITOR,—We agree with Mark Davenport that acute testicular torsion is difficult to diagnose clinically.1 His article suggests that the diagnosis may be aided by Doppler ultrasonography, but this investigation can be unreliable2 and may lead to a false sense of security. Often surgery is required to exclude torsion, with no therapeutic benefit. This...

To study whether the wide differences in heart disease incidence amongst ethnic groups in the UK, with the higher mortality and morbidity in peoples of south Asian descent, may be attributed to differences in public health awareness and life-style. Questionnaire-based survey of women from different ethnic groups attending an antenatal clinic in a c...

The mortality and morbidity from coronary heart disease (CHD) is higher in people of South Asian origin than in whites, but is significantly lower in the black (Afro-Caribbean origin) community in the United Kingdom. To investigate whether this may be related to differences in fatty food intake, we performed a questionnaire survey of the weekly foo...