Cutaneous Ewing sarcoma is a rare variant that has been poorly characterized and has no standard therapy. We report 2 patients with cutaneous Ewing sarcoma and review 76 other cases reported in the literature for demographics, presentation, treatment, and outcome. Only 2 patients presented with metastatic disease, and only 8 patients developed metastatic disease. Ninety-one percent of all patients are alive despite wide variations in treatment regimens. On the basis of this summary, treatment consisting of local control with surgery and/or radiation and abbreviated chemotherapy is proposed as a treatment option for this less aggressive Ewing sarcoma.

Lesley Simpson discusses the risks associated with indwelling urethral catheters and identifies how nurses can reduce them with proactive management.

In a two year period 44 endobronchial resections using the Neodymium-YAG laser have been performed in 28 patients. The majority of cases had either bronchogenic carcinoma (57%) or metastatic carcinoma (18%) involving the bronchial tree. Adenoid cystic carcinoma, benign tumours, lymphoma, tracheal papillomatosis, Wegener's granulomatosis and benign stricture comprised the other cases. Rigid bronchoscopy and general anaesthesia were used in the majority. Symptomatic improvement of dyspnoea when relief of bronchial obstruction occurred was marked in ten of 17 cases, moderate in four and absent in three. Haemoptysis was markedly improved in two of three cases and obstructive pneumonitis resolved in one of two cases. Significant respiratory function improvement was observed in Raw (most sensitive), FEV11, FVC and TLC. Laser treatment restored the lumen to normal calibre in 52% (including all patients with tracheal lesions), to greater than half normal in 28% and to less than half normal in 20% of cases. Re-expansion of a collapsed lung or lobe occurred in seven of eight patients. In six of these patients laser treatment was the initial therapy resulting in immediate re-expansion and symptomatic relief prior to further therapy. In patients with bronchogenic carcinoma the mean time to retreatment or death was 72 days. For metastatic carcinoma this was 60 days. Two early deaths (3 hours, 36 hours) due to respiratory failure occurred in patients with very severe bilateral bronchial obstruction too advanced for effective clearance. Other complications included laryngeal oedema requiring prolonged intubation (1), bronchospasm (1), atrial fibrillation (1), and acute pulmonary oedema (1). Laser treatment provides effective palliation for bronchial obstruction and haemoptysis in selected proximal endobronchial cancers.

Urinary stress incontinence is prevalent in older people, but it has also been found to affect fit nulliparous women. Building pelvic floor muscles with pelvic muscle exercises helps to treat stress incontinence in women, but if exercises are begun at an early age, it is also effective in reducing the incidence of stress incontinence later in life.