BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer is a widespread disease characterized by high cancer-specific mortality and high cost of treatment. The search for available and reliable biological markers for the early diagnosis of urothelial carcinomas is an urgent task of oncourology. One of the promising ways to improve the efficiency of bladder cancer diagnostics is the use of the possibility of the clinical metabolomics. AIM: Was to study the possibility of assessing the content of various amino acids and their metabolites in blood serum for the diagnosis of bladder cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Serum concentrations of 28 amino acids and their metabolites were studied in 18 patients with urothelial cancer and 20 representatives of the control group without an oncological history. History taking, routine oncological screening, and blood sampling for laboratory tests were performed. RESULTS: Four metabolomes (glycine, phenylalanine, asparagine, and threonine) were identified, the blood serum concentration of which significantly changes in patients with urothelial cancer. These metabolomes can be considered as potential biomarkers of urothelial cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The study of the serum content of these four amino acids seems to be the most promising for the isolation of a potential biomarker of urothelial cancer.

Metastasis of kidney cancer to the bone tissue can be manifested through development of pathological fractures and spinal cord lesions. The clinical case of clear cell renal cell carcinoma with solitary metastasis in the thoracic spine presented in this article demonstrates the possibility of clinical manifestation of the disease through neurological symptoms and the importance of timely comprehensive diagnosis and adherence to treatment deadlines.

The calyx diverticulum is a cavity lined with urothelium that communicates through a narrow canal with the renal calyx-pelvis system. Most calyx diverticula are 0.5 to 2.0 cm in diameter and require surgical treatment exclusively for clinical manifestations of associated diseases. The most common complications of this nosology include urolithiasis and recurrent urinary tract infections. This article presents a rare case of a large diverticulum of the middle group of the calyces of the left kidney. The dimensions of the cavity filled with urine were 10 cm, which resulted in recurrent pyelonephritis, paranephritis and urosepsis.

Varicocele is recognized as one of the most common urological diseases, but its true prevalence is a matter of debate. In the present study, during a screening examination of 442 young men (mean age 21.6 years), grade I varicocele was detected in 7.2%, grade II in 42.1%, and grade III in 15.2% of men, varicocele was absent only in 35.5% of men. In 41% of cases, varicocele was diagnosed in isolation on the left side, in 36.5% of cases, bilateral varicocele was detected, and in 22.5%, varicose veins of the spermatic cord were detected on the right. Pathozoospermia was found in 47.3% of patients with grade II varicocele and 61.2% with grade III varicocele. The data obtained in the course of the study showed a significant effect of varicocele and its duration on sperm quality, in particular, on sperm morphology.