A prospective study of 102 women undergoing abdominal hysterectomy for benign conditions was performed in order to evaluate pre- and post-operative urinary and sexual symptoms. The mean age of the patients was 44.9 years (range 30-65). Urinary disorders such as urgency, dysuria, frequency, nocturia, slow bladder emptying, sensation of residual urine as well as stress and urge incontinence were observed pre-operatively and 2, 6 and 12 months post-operatively. Dyspareunia, libido and the number of orgasms were evaluated as disorders affecting sexual life. At follow-up 12 months post-operatively a statistically significant decrease in stress incontinence, frequency and nocturia was observed. Dyspareunia was also significantly less frequent and increased libido was experienced. It was concluded that abdominal hysterectomy does not provoke adverse urinary or sexual symptoms and that it can have beneficial effects.

Background. The clinical significance of p53 suppressor gene nucleoprotein immunostaining in ovarian epithelial cancer has not been determined. Methods. p53 protein expression was studied by immunohistochemistry from paraffin embedded tissue in a series of 136 patients with malignant ovarian epithelial tumors. The median follow‐up time of the patients still alive was 10 years. Results. Sixty (44%) carcinomas stained clearly positive for p53 protein. Positive staining for p53 protein was associated with the serous histologic type (P = 0.0006), a higher than the median S‐phase fraction size determined by DNA flow cytometry (P = 0.02), and poor histologic grade of differentiation (P = 0.04), but not with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, age at diagnosis, or DNA ploidy. Cancers with positive staining had only 17% 5‐year and 9% 15‐year survival rates compared with 42% 5‐year and 36% 15‐year survival rates corrected for intercurrent deaths among the rest of patients (P = 0.002). In a multivariate analysis, positive p53 staining was associated with poor survival (relative risk of death, 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–2.9) together with less than radical surgery (nonradical vs. radical: RR, 5.5; 95% CI, 2.2–13.6), and advanced FIGO stage (RR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.0–2.0). Conclusion. Although p53 protein immunostaining is associated with several other prognostic factors in epithelial ovarian cancer, it may also have independent prognostic value in this disease.

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are autoimmune diseases which have many similarities with interstitial cystitis (IC), a urinary bladder disease with unknown etiology. This survey on the occurrence, severity and nature of lower urinary tract symptoms among patients suffering from SS or SLE showed that these patients have significantly more urinary complaints, especially irritative bladder symptoms, than age- and sex-matched controls. We studied 36 patients with SS, 85 patients with SLE and 121 controls. In these groups, 25%, 29% and 66%, respectively, were free of urinary symptoms. The prevalences of mild symptoms were 61%, 62% and 27%, and severe symptoms 14%, 9% and 7% in the respective groups. SS and SLE patients with urinary complaints reported mostly urinary frequency (27% and 62%) and suprapubic pain (36% and 34%). The most common symptom in the control group was stress urinary incontinence. The frequency of lower urinary tract problems in patients with SS and SLE supports the concept that autoimmune disorders also have bladder affections.

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II.