PurposeEvidences have shown that neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has a prognostic value in patients with cancer. We wanted to test the prognostic significance of NLR in prostatic cancer of patients who are candidate to radical prostatectomy.MethodsWe have considered 731 patients. Complete demographic data including age, tumor stage, Gleason score, complete blood count and serum biochemical profile were collected. Pre-treatment percentage of neutrophils and NLR were considered, and correlated with patients data and recurrence free survival.Results389 patients were evaluated, mean age 65 years, mean follow-up 51.5 months, mean recurrence free survival 51.3 months. Total neutrophil count does not correlate with biochemical recurrence and disease free survival. Patients with a value higher of 60% of neutrophils are more likely to have a recurrence. Patients with a total lymphocyte count <1,500 have a higher rate of relapse. NLR was not correlated with baseline total PSA, with Gleason score and with pathological stage; patients with a NLR >3 has a higher incidence of recurrence. In multivariate analysis including age, total PSA and NLR, NLR is the most important factor able to predict recurrence. There are some limitations to this study; first, this is a retrospective study, and the total number of patients analyzed is relatively small.ConclusionsOur study suggests that pre-treatment NLR may be associated with disease free survival in patients with prostate cancer, and could be introduced in clinical practice. NLR has the advantage of low economic cost and wide availability.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1036-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cognitive Zonal Saturation Biopsies should be used to reduce operator variability of cognitive fusion biopsy in addition to standard biopsy. Cognitive zonal biopsy based on mpMRI findings identifies clinically relevant prostate in 80%, has larger cancer extension in fusion biopsies than in random biopsies, and reduce the number of cores if compared to saturation biopsy.

Repeated PNBx done in patients with diagnosis of ASAP appear to get worse EF; number of biopsies seems to increase the risk of ED. Use of ECD in transrectal ultrasound- guided PNBx may have a role to avoid neurovascular bundles (NVBs) and preserve EF; anyway further studies are highly recommended to validate this hypothesis.

To evaluate the outcome of the long-term follow-up in patients who underwent corporoplasty-straightening treatment for Peyronie's disease. Between 1990 and 2012, a total of 89 patients underwent corporoplasty-straightening surgery using penile plication for Peyronie's disease. We followed up on all the patients for the following: (a) the correction of the curvature; (b) any penile shortening; (c) sexual function; and (d) complications. The mean follow-up period was 103 months. Complete correction of the curvature was obtained in 81 patients (91%). Shortening of the penis (1.5 to <3 cm) occurred in 20 patients (22.5%) and 79 patients (88.7%) had good erectile function (International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) 5> 21). The most frequent complication was the sensitivity reduction of the glans in eight patients (8.9%), which was resolved within about a year after surgery (mean 11 months) and the shortening of the penis in 20 patients (22.5%), which, however, did not result in problems during sexual intercourse. Corporoplasty using penile straightening plication is a safe procedure whose results are maintained for even many years after surgery. It is a procedure that can be applied to any type of curvature. Any reduction in the length of the penis, as a result of the surgery procedure, does not lead to difficulties in sexual intercourse.