Frontiers in Reconstructive Urology, Europe - COMING SOON!

Hello to all!!

Most of our information on this site has been centered on North America, Central and South America, and the United Kingdom (we wish you a successful, and most importantly,  SAFE Olympics). Many of our readers hail from Mainland Europe (especially Spain) and eastern Africa. We do have some information about urologists in central and southern Europe, and eastern Africa which we will endeavor to publish as soon as it can be verified as accurate.  We really appreciate your stopping by, and in the meantime, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via the email address listed at the top of the page.

UPDATE; 02 August 2012:

I am putting the finishing touches on an article about Dr. Enzo Palminteri, M.D., who has offices in Arezzo, Milan, Verona, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Repubblica Italiana (Italy for those of us who reside west of the Prime Meridian). In the opinion of most reconstructive urologists, he would be considered to be among the world's top three urethral surgeons, having pioneered many unique procedures.

I had the pleasure of corresponding with him in 1998, after encountering problems with the Urolume Endoprosthesis implanted a few years prior. I won't elaborate further, except to say that his predictions were more than accurate. 

BTW: Moderator César is going to resume his task of translating this site for our Español mirror site.


Per: Moderator Tim

Many thanks four comments regarding Hyophen®!

Thank you to all who sent info to us regarding your experiences with Hyophen® It will provide valuable insight into the results and benefits which patients have received from the medication.

Per: Moderator Tim

Frontiers in Reconstructive Urology, 2012 Part 2: Dr. Mang Chen, M.D. has relocated to Pittsburgh, PA

Detroit's loss is a great gain for western Pennsylvania!!

Until early June of this year, the western portions of Pennsylvania lacked the services of a specialist in reconstructive urology (this is the opinion of  Moderator Tim, and no offense is intended towards any of the fine urologists serving the western sections of Pennsylvania). As referenced in another post within this site, Dr. Chen trained under the auspices of Dr. Richard Santucci, arguably one of the world's top reconstructive urologists. Pittsburgh, you've hit a home run on this one!!!

**Remember, Dr. Chen, Moio's Bakery in Monroeville is the best, don't go to Primanti's, go to the Triangle Bar and Grill for sandwiches. Don't forget about Isaly's, and have a lemon Blendd on me!!

All the best!!!

Per: Moderator Tim

Bioengineered Urethral Tissue, quite possibly our greatest hope for a return to normal life...

A little more than a year ago, Time Magazine published an article entitled "Scientists Grow New Body Parts in the Lab".  Low and behold, the article was about a team at Wake Forest University's research into creating human urethral tissue which is grown on a tubular "scaffolding", and suitable for transplant into human males with strictures which would otherwise have probably required a partial urostomy, or Johansen's Urethroplasty to achieve urinary drainage.


The research team, led by Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine created the human urethras (trust me, this was no easy process!) and transplanted them into a total of five young men, the most recent, in 2010. The longest-term recipients, all young boys have successfully retained the bioengineered tissue, which functions identically to their own (and seems to have become almost indistinguishable from their own urethral tissue), for a period of time approaching six years. Adult subjects have not taken part in this research, thus far - but I can guarantee that there will be no shortage of volunteers!!

My writing more will not do the subject the justice it deserves, here's a link to **"The Lancet" research paper. It is in .pdf format: http://www.mediafire.com/?3jdiyp8tlf3op3w


** © The Lancet, 2011, and respective research copyrights,

**© The Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine and Dr. Anthony Atala,

Our thanks to "Dr. Joe", our resident urologist, and an editor for WikiProject- Medicine©, whose work on updating this site, and that of Wikipedia's "reconstructive urology" pages is to be commended,

Many thanks to "Karen", of the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine, who provided this info for all to see, and was instrumental in procuring the document for "Dr. Joe". Should you ever visit central Pennsylvania, I owe you a steak dinner!

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS RESEARCH!!!!   IT'S OUR BEST HOPE!!!

Per: Moderator Tim

Medication Shortages, it "ain't" getting any better, folks

A friend of mine owns a rather successful neighborhood pharmacy. Yesterday he informed me that he has over TWENTY popular medications on backorder; not the least of which is VICODIN ES. I'm told that even Wal*Mart pharmacies are having problems acquiring it.

Here's a link to the Amerisource Bergen backorder list:
http://www.amerisourcebergen.com/cp/mbo/Output/Backorder.pdf

That particular backorder is set to clear by 31 July 2012, pharmacies are substituting (with physician/practitioner notification) the 7.5/500 strength Hydrocodone/APAP (Lortab equivalent). From what I've heard, those supplies are stable for the time being.

A Fox News story on how medic units are having to use expired meds on advanced life support patients:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1733673203001/drug-shortage-forcing-paramedics-to-use-expired-meds

Per: Moderator Tim

A note from Moderator Tim

Sorry for not having posted in a little more than six months, I've had problems with the Urolume Endoprosthesis which was implanted in the last century;  it was one of the first available in the United States, and has been causing angst for the last several years.

We have collected TONS of great info, and have been in contact with a physician who has a copy of the  BIOENGINEERED URETHRAL TISSUE RESEARCH STUDY  being conducted at Wake Forest University, in North Carolina. I have viewed a copy of the research report in THE LANCET, and believe it offers the best hope for those of us with complex, multiple, or strictures in excess of 4cm in length.

There's also some great news on the "Urised" front.  Hyophen®, has been approved by the FDA, it's similar in makeup to Urised, and fills the gap in the urinary analgesic scene left by the difficult avaliability of Prosed DS after the September, 2011 recall.

My thanks to those of you who have commented and written, I apologize for not replying sooner, but I had to budget my time judiciously because of the health problems caused by the stent. Please, continue to comment, and should you have a story of your "travels on the stricture express", research information, or anything pertaining to the topic deemed suitable for publication (all of this stuff is approved by an attorney and a physician prior to posting).

I am in the process of contacting the urologists who have been invaluable in the operation of this site for purposes of requesting updates as to the latest in technologies and techniques.

**A note to the the urologists who frequent this site, my apologies for not keeping in touch, suffice to say that I had a fairly substantial battle of my own to fight, and that took the majority of my time and concentration. But I'm back now, and hope to fulfill my obligation as best as possible.

Per: Moderator Tim