Erbay, Güven; Yalcın, Ahmet; Gultekin, Mehmet Hamza

Objective: To investigate the role of renal resistive index (RI) and pulsatile index levels measured with renal Doppler ultrasonography in predicting the success of medical expulsive treatment in patients with ureteral stones. Materials and Methods: Patients admitted to our clinic between January and December 2017 with a ureteral stone of less than 1 cm in diameter were evaluated in terms of their RI and pulsatile index values obtained using Doppler ultrasonography, and the localization and diameter of their stone and grade of hydronephrosis using computed tomography at the time of admission. After 4 weeks of medical expulsive treatment with tamsulosin, spontaneous stone passage was assessed to investigate the relationship between the data obtained before treatment and the success of medical expulsive treatment. Results: Forty-eight of 71 patients passed the stone spontaneously after treatment (67.6%). Among the related variables, the largest diameter of stone and ipsilateral RI levels were independently associated with the success of medical expulsive treatment (P <.001). In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, a RI value of less than 0.72 was associated with spontaneous stone expulsion with a sensitivity of 89.6%, a specificity of 69.6%, and a positive predictive value of 97%. Conclusion: It is possible to predict the success of medical expulsive treatment using RI levels. We anticipate that in patients who are not likely to pass the stones spontaneously with medical treatment, surgery should not be postponed to avoid irreversible kidney damage.

Baykara, Mehmet; Denkçeken, Tuba; Bassorgun, Ibrahim; Akin, Yigit; Yucel, Selcuk; Canpolat, Murat

Objective To investigate for the potential of detection of positive surgical margins by the elastic light single-scattering spectroscopy (ELSSS) system with a single optical fiber probe during radical prostatectomy. Materials and Methods ELSSS spectra in the 450- to 750-nm wavelength regions were obtained from a total of 31 benign tissue samples and 14 malignant tissue samples from 18 patients. The ELSSS spectral data were assessed by comparing these against the "gold standard" histopathology results. Data were analyzed using principal component analysis, followed by linear discriminant analysis. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used for differentiating performance. Results Classification based on the discriminant score provided a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 97%, in differentiating benign from malignant surgical margins of prostate tissues, with a positive predictive value of 0.92, a negative predictive value of 0.94, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.87. Conclusion The ELSSS system can accurately distinguish between benign and malignant surgical margins of prostate tissues with a high positive predictive value and negative predictive value. It is a promising technique, and it may be a valuable new tool for determining positive surgical margins during radical prostatectomy.