[COVID-19 Pandemic: Impact and rapid reaction of Urology]

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused tens of thousands of deaths in Spain and has managed to breakdown the healthcare system hospitals in the Community of Madrid, largely due to its tendency to cause severe pneumonia, requiring ventilatory support. This fact has caused our center to collapse, with 130% of its beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, thus causing the absolute cessation of activity of the urology service, the practical disappearance of resident training programs, and the incorporation of a good part of the urology staff into the group of medical personnel attending these patients. In order to recover from this extraordinary level of suspended activity, we will be obliged to prioritize pathologies based on purely clinical criteria, for which tables including the relevance of each pathology within each area of urology are being proposed. Technology tools such as online training courses or surgical simulators may be convenient for the necessary reestablishment of resident education.

[Primary percutaneous approach in staghorn kidney calculus]

36 staghorn calculi were treated percutaneously under ultrasound guidance between 1983 and 1992. Each stone had a renal pelvic element and at least two caliceal branches. The area of each stone was measured on the plain abdominal x-ray (mean: 1,020 mm2) and the total length of the various caliceal branches was measured from the pelvic element (mean: 50.2 mm). These 36 procedures represented 8.2% of the 438 percutaneous nephrolithotomies performed over the same period. The stone was able to be entirely removed by nephrolithotomy in 12 patients. Of the 24 residual stones after percutaneous nephrolithotomy, 16 were treated by extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy, which eliminated all stones in 12 of these patients. Eight of the remaining 12 patients were lost to follow-up and treatment was not completed, and 4 present a residual stone (11% of failures). These results are compared with those of other series and are comparable to those of surgery which gives a similar residual stone rate of 16% in the AFU 1982 report [6]. The primary percutaneous approach to staghorn calculi therefore represents an effective therapeutic modality, whose use and results must be weighed up with those of surgery.

[Treatment of acute leukemia: usefulness of an immunodepressed unit]

A special unit for immune-depressed patients was used in the treatment of acute leukemia in 33 patients. Results of therapy were compared to those in 30 historical controls treated in a general ward. Both groups were comparable regarding age, sex, type of leukemia and severity of bone marrow depression. The incidence of fever and the percentage of complete remission were higher in patients treated in the unit, including patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The remission rate in the subgroup of patients with acute myeloid leukemia was not improved. Mortality rates were also not different. We recommend the use of this unit for treatment of patients with acute leukemia, given the lower infection rate and the higher probability of remission.

[Infection in severe neutropenia: analysis of 140 episodes]

We analyzed infections complicating 140 episodes of severe neutropenia in 86 patients. The underlying diagnosis was acute leukemia in 64, lymphoma in 12 and isolated cases of bone marrow aplasia, agranulocytosis, dysmyelopoiesis and solid tumors. No fever developed in 35 (25%) episodes. No cause for the fever was identified in 40% of the remaining episodes. Clinical evidence of an infection was present in 20%, with positive bacteriologic findings in 27%. Respiratory infection (16%), pneumonia (11%) and sepsis (10%) were the most common infectious processes. Infectious agents isolated were gram negative bacilli (72%), gram positive cocci (19%) and fungi (9%). The association of amikacin and carbenicillin or cephalosporins proved to be superior to gentamycin-penicillin (p less than 0.01). 16 patients died for an overall mortality of 11%. Pneumonia and infection by K pneumoniae or C albicans were associated to a poorer prognosis.