Introduction: Transurethral microwave thermotherapy is an anesthesia-free, outpatient method of treating lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Our results with the use of this technique in 25 patients are reported. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five patients with BPH, 8 of whom with complete urinary retention, were treated with high-energy transurethral microwave thermotherapy (HE-TUMT) (Prostatron system). Preoperative investigations included digital rectal examination, urinary free flow rate, PSA, urinalysis, urine culture, transrectal ultrasonography, urodynamic evaluation, International Prostatic Symptom Score (IPSS) and quality of life (QoL). Main selection criteria included: large prostate, high surgical risk, reluctance to undergo surgery. All patients were obstructed according to the Abrams-Griffith’s nomogram. For the statistical analysis a repeated-measures, one-way ANOVA was performed on previously non-catheterized patients. Results: Six of the 8 patients with catheter before treatment were able to urinate spontaneously with no significant post-voiding residual urine. In the 17 remaining patients, IPSS decreased from a mean of 18.5 at baseline to 7.30 and QoL from a mean of 3.9 to 1.2. Mean maximum flow rates during uroflowmetry increased from 8.5 to 16.9 ml/s. P_det Q_max decreased from a mean of 83.0 cm H₂O at baseline to 50.7 cm H₂O and Q_max increased from a mean of 6.8 ml/s at baseline to 15.1 ml/s during the pressure-flow study. After TUMT, 13 patients were unobstructed and 4 equivocal according to the Abrams-Griffith’s nomogram. Conclusion: Our study performed in a selected population of patients with BPH documents the efficiency and safety of HE-TUMT. This technique appears to be a valid therapeutic option, particularly in patients with high surgical risk.

— The Authors report a case of giant urethral stone, localised in one of the penile urethra diverticula. Statistically urethral stones are less than 1 % of all urinary stone cases and do not present particular diagnostic or therapeutic problems. We have presented this case solely for its rarity.

Thrombosis secondary to renal closed abdominal trauma is a rare event, most of the time it is clinically silent. We report here our experience. MATERIALS AND METHODS. This is the case of a boy came to our observation after a road trauma with motorbike fall-out. The boy arrived in ED for head injury. The patient, stable for haemodynamics, had lacerated and contused injuries at pelvis and right buttock level. He underwent chest x-rays, brain CT and neurosurgery examination: all resulted negative. There was no macrohematuria, nor lumbar pain. Objectively abdomen was treatable. The patient was referred to temporary observation for 12 hours when he was asked to undergo abdomen ultrasound, which showed no documented lesions except for fluid collection at the pelvic level. To rule out all doubts, the patient had an abdominal CT scan, which showed a silent left kidney with suspected thrombosis at left renal level. The patient was sent to our attention after 15 hours: we decided to perform immediately selective arteriography with thrombus lysis. The arteriography documented a massive thrombosis. The thrombus lysis was impossible to be performed. To maintain the perfect functionality of the contralateral kidney we decided not to proceed further, but to perform only left nephrectomy. During surgery mesocolon laceration occurred, so the patient underwent also colic resection. DISCUSSION. Thrombosis secondary to a closed renal abdominal trauma is an uncommon event, with little clinical expression. It is the consequence of an injury. Deceleration produces arterial dissection, which alters the blood flow to the kidney, which is then twisted and complicated with renal thrombosis. Quite common is the association with diaphragmatic rupture or urethral detachment. The alterations of renal parenchyma in the early hours are detectable only through CT scan, which represents the method of election, and which can highlight a functionally silent kidney. CONCLUSIONS. Renal thrombosis requires that diagnosis is done within the first 12 hours; a rapid revascularization should be promptly attempted.

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