Background/Objectives: Multiple myeloma (MM) patients receiving immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) are at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Standard prophylaxis typically involves aspirin or low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH), guided by risk assessment tools such as SAVED and IMPEDE-VTE. However, these models have practical limitations, and real-world evidence supporting novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) as primary prophylaxis remains limited. Methods: In this retrospective, single-center study, we analyzed 101 MM patients treated with IMiD-based therapy between January 2020 and December 2024. All patients received NOAC prophylaxis (apixaban 2.5 mg twice daily or rivaroxaban 10–20 mg once daily), irrespective of baseline thrombotic risk. Clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and treatment details were collected. The primary outcome was objectively confirmed VTE, while secondary outcomes included bleeding events and treatment feasibility, assessed by treatment continuation without clinically significant bleeding. Results: Median age was 63 years (range 35–89); 36.6% were female. Lenalidomide and pomalidomide were used in 86.1% and 13.9%, respectively. Twenty-eight patients (27.7%) had relapsed/refractory disease, while 72.3% were newly diagnosed. Over a median NOAC exposure of 6 months, two patients (2.0%) developed VTE (both deep vein thrombosis). One major bleeding event (1.0%) occurred. Conclusions: Universal NOAC prophylaxis in MM patients receiving IMiD-based therapy was associated with a low incidence of thromboembolic events and an acceptable safety profile. These real-world findings suggest that NOACs may represent a practical and effective alternative to aspirin or LMWH, potentially overcoming the limitations of score-based prophylaxis strategies.

Background: Hypertension (HTN) remains one of the most common and modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular diseases worldwide. While several studies have explored its risk factors, updated national data covering long‐term trends in Türkiye has been limited. Methods: We conducted a cross‐sectional study using data from seven national health surveys carried out in Türkiye between 2008 and 2022, including a total of 97562 participants aged 19 and older. We calculated HTN prevalence across years and performed univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses to examine associations with demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors. Results: Overall, 18.9% of participants reported to have HTN. Prevalence increased modestly from 2008 to 2016 and then stabilized by 2022 (18.4%). HTN was significantly associated with older age, female gender, higher BMI, larger waist circumference, lower education level, unemployment, physical inactivity, and having a spouse or parent with HTN. Notably, individuals with graduate‐level education had a higher prevalence of HTN than those without a high school education, and regular smokers showed a slightly lower prevalence compared to nonsmokers. There was also a significant regional difference in HTN diagnoses. Conclusion: Our findings offer an updated picture of HTN in Türkiye and highlight the influence of age, gender, lifestyle, geographical region, and family context on its prevalence. These results can guide future public health strategies of risk reduction at the individual, household, and regional levels.

Phenol is widely used as a minimally invasive treatment for pilonidal sinus disease (PSD); however, its clinical application is characterized by substantia

Background/Objectives: This study aimed to examine gender-associated differences in extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) utilization as well as urolithiasis diagnostic evaluation, treatment strategy, and follow-up across a multinational sample of urologists and trainees. Methods: A multinational cross-sectional survey of members of the Société Internationale d’Urologie (SIU) was conducted from June to July 2022 in seven languages. The survey was completed by 3747 urologists and trainees (283 female and 3464 male respondents) from 108 countries. To reduce baseline differences, propensity-score matching was performed with exact matching on years of clinical practice, continent, and career stage, yielding a matched cohort of 1191 respondents (279 female and 912 male). Categorical comparisons used Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel analyses stratified by a matched-set identifier, and 0–10 scored items were compared using stratified Wilcoxon rank-sum analyses with the matched set as the stratum. Results: In the matched cohort, annual procedural-volume distributions differed by gender for ureterorenoscopy (URS) (p = 0.0009), open surgery (p = 0.002), laparoscopy/robotics (p = 0.010), and percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) (p = 0.018), whereas ESWL volume did not differ significantly (p = 0.077). Among ESWL-specific categorical practices, coupling-gel use differed by gender (p = 0.029), while alpha-blocker use, antibiotic prophylaxis, JJ-stent use, stone-fragment collection, ESWL-machine type, and operator did not. Among the 851 respondents that completed the 0–10 practice items (186 female, 665 male), urine-culture assessment (8.4 vs. 7.6; p = 0.030), complete blood count (8.0 vs. 7.5; p = 0.047), and repeating ESWL within 7 days (2.5 vs. 3.4; p = 0.048) showed nominal gender-associated differences. The majority of other scored items were similar, including computed tomography (CT) urography (p = 0.055). Because these analyses were exploratory and no multiplicity adjustment was applied, nominally significant findings should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating. Conclusions: In this multinational survey of SIU members, most self-reported ESWL-specific practices were similar between female and male respondents after matching on key demographic, geographic, and professional characteristics. Gender-associated differences were observed in procedural-volume distributions as well as a limited number of reported assessments and procedural items. These findings are exploratory associations rather than causal effects of gender and may reflect measured and unmeasured professional, institutional, geographic, and training-related factors.