Overactive bladder syndrome is a chronic, disabling condition with physical, psychological and social consequences that significantly affects the quality of life of millions of patients worldwide. The economic impact of this disorder is crucial. Overactive bladder syndrome is a little‑known condition, with different manifestations from patient to patient, which causes a great deal of frustration to the medical staff involved. The patient requires a clear explanation and the full support of the attending physician. It is extremely important to establish a correct diagnosis and an effective individualized treatment. The collaboration and understanding of these patients are extremely important aspects. Improving the quality of life in these patients is the main purpose in managing this condition. There are several treatment modalities that may be used progressively, with favorable albeit inconsistent results. This condition remains extremely challenging for specialists and, unfortunately, always one of maximum interest.

Objective: Prospective analysis of the prevalence of symptoms, tolerability and complications associated with ureteral stents and their impact on quality of life based on the Flanagan Quality of Life Scale and a not-validated questionnaire from our clinic.Methods: A total of 2200 adult patient participated to this study in a period of 10 years (2003-2012). Those patients were asked to complete the QOLS and a not-validated questionnaire from our clinic, before ureteral indwelling, 7 day after ureteral indwelling and 14 days after removal of the stent.Results: Total 1520 patient aged between 18 and 84 years completed the study. The analysis of data showed that the unpleasant symptoms caused by stent were encountered more frequently at 7 days after stent insertion, in terms of urinary frequency, dysuria, urgency and macroscopic haematuria, this difference being statistically significant (p<0.05). After analysis the responses to QOLS questionnaire, at 7 days after stent placement, mean scores show a clear reduction in the QoL of those patients, in all cases the standard deviation being at a great value, indicating a high variability of responses, but at 14 days after its suppression of stent the average scores are somewhat closer to the baseline.Conclusions: Our study brings many elements that shows a statistically significant increase in the incidence of numerous side effects and impaired quality of life. It contributes to existing data from the literature as regards the knowledge of the pathology determined by the presence of foreign body in the urinary tract and in providing patient counseling.doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.12669/pjms.313.6759How to cite this:Scarneciu I, Lupu S, Pricop C, Scarneciu C. Morbidity and impact on quality of life in patients with indwelling ureteral stents: A 10-year clinical experience. Pak J Med Sci 2015;31(3):522-526.

Retroperitoneal tumors, once considered uncommon, have been reported in the last years in such numbers that they cannot be considered anymore a rare condition. Tumor recurrence following surgical excision is quite common and a tumor that was considered originally as benign in many cases can recur as a malignant tumor. The purpose of this paper is to underline the difficulties in terms of establishing a correct diagnosis and a proper therapeutic protocol when facing a retroperitoneal mass of unknown origin, as well as to present the available data regarding prognosis, treatment options and tumor recurrence. Retroperitoneal tumors can be classified as benign or malignant; solid, cystic or both; single or multiple, and of varied histological types. A high percentage of patients with retroperitoneal tumors are discovered in advanced stages, usually seeking medical help for symptoms related to nearby organ compression/invasion. This pathology requires a prompt and adequate multidisciplinary management, in order to achieve disease control and to reduce the recurrence rate. Complete surgical resection is the potential curative treatment for retroperitoneal tumors and it is best managed in high-volume centers, by a multidisciplinary team. Complete oncological tumor resection and tumor grade remain the most important predictors for local recurrence and disease-specific survival. Further research is required in order to define the role of radiotherapy, as well as to discover new biological therapies that target various molecular pathways involved in retroperitoneal cancers.

Sexuality is a fundamental component of human behavior. Frequency of erectile dysfunction (ED) and infertility is increasing around the world. Both may have profound psychological effects. One of the risk factors is smoking. The purpose of this study was to verify the hypothesis that smoking favors the appearance of ED and altered sperm parameters in young men. We tried to see if the efficiency of a strong message emotionally charged is lower for anxious subjects compared to less anxious, because anxiety is an additional risk factor for the occurrence of ED and one of the emotional complications of ED

Ureteral stenting has become one of the most common endoscopic procedure in endourology. Its main purpose is to preserve urinary drainage if this is compromised and maintain a good renal function. Even if there were made significant improvements in the last 50 years, ureteral stenting is not without morbidity. The common ureteral stents cannot have a good long-term efficiency and at some points, it will be blocked by the encrustation and incrustation; as result, the urinary drainage will have to suffer. A total of 134 ureteral stents in 83 patients suffering from reno/ureteral lithiasis were examined. We investigated the risk factors of encrustation and analyzed the chemical compounds of it. A total of 57 stents were found encrusted. The main risk factor was represented by the indwelling time. The rate of encrustation was 18.33% in the first 5 weeks, 56% between week 6 and 12, 75% thereafter. Stents with a smaller caliber (4.8 CH) tend to be more encrusted than those with a bigger one (6 CH). The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy has found that the main chemical compound of encrustation is represented by calcium oxalate.