EDITORIAL

Pearls of our Practice

This issue of The Canadian Journal of Urology contains an especially rich wealth of practical and interesting information for clinical urologists, including ways to increase awareness of unusual genitourinary pathology and to improve common urological techniques and procedures such as detecting prostate cancer and managing interstitial cystitis.

The issue opens with a tribute to one of the giants of urology, E. Darracott Vaughan. With an illustrious career that now spans more than four decades, Dr. Vaughan exemplifies the definition of a clinician scientist. His many contributions to the field of urology have come as a result of his ongoing efforts to increase the presence of urology at the NIH, his relentless pursuit of increased funding for basic urological research, and his leadership role with the National Institute of Diabetes and Kidney Diseases. These efforts have resulted in significant recognition of the importance of urology research and have translated into increased funding for many of our growing number of rising stars in urology research.

Among this issue’s articles that provide “practice pearls,” the article by Mutlu et al offers critical new information about how to use PSA tests to improve prostate cancer screening. Cox and colleagues describe a novel therapy to treat interstitial cystitis. Agarwal et al revisit the rare traumatic entity of the fractured penis and emphasize the importance of the clinical index of suspicion to make a proper diagnosis. Goetzl et al review a large series of perineal prostatectomies for factors that predict positive surgical margins.

The article by Shah and associates provides insight into the pervasive, condemnable, yet rarely described practice of female genital mutilation, also referred to as female circumcision. The authors describe the historical background, cultural basis, and preventive efforts related to this deplorable abuse, which is carried out openly in Sub-Saharan Africa and practiced occultly in many unlikely parts of the world.

This issue also includes an entertaining and informative historical retrospective about the troubles and tribulations of Catherine de Medici as she dealt with the responsibility of providing a male heir to the throne of France and the impact that her “infertility” may have had on world history.

Finally, our regular feature of a list of ongoing clinical trials appraises our readers of potential new therapies for patients with difficult-to-treat conditions, and this provides urologists with the opportunity to contact study investigators and enroll their patients in cutting-edge trials.

Gabriel P. Haas, MD, FACS Syracuse, New York, USA Editor-in-Chief

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© The Canadian Journal of Urology™; 16(2); April 2009

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