Washington University urologic surgery faculty members and trainees travelled to New Orleans, LA, to present cases and research, moderate sessions, and direct instructional courses at the 2022 American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting. At the meeting, urologists from around the globe gathered to provide access to groundbreaking research, new guidelines, and the latest advancements in urologic medicine.
Several research and poster presentation abstracts prepared by Urology faculty and trainees will be published in an upcoming edition of the AUA’s Journal of Urology. Abstracts are available to view online and have been linked in the summaries below. To view the entire AUA program, visit their annual meeting website.
Friday, May 13
H. Henry Lai, MD, served as a podium session moderator for the “Infections/Inflammation/Cystic Disease of the Genitourinary Tract: Interstitial Cystitis” session. Later in the afternoon, Lai was joined by Angelíca Gousse, MD, a collaborator from the Bladder Health and Reconstructive Urology Institute, to present their poster abstract, “Assessment of Bladder ‘Pressure’ and ‘Discomfort’ Symptoms – How do Overactive Bladder Differ from Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome Patients?” during the “Urodynamics/Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction/Female Pelvic Medicine: Non-neurogenic Voiding Dysfunction I” moderated poster session. Senior data analyst Joel Vetter, MS, also contributed to the research.
Endourology fellows Brijesh Patel, MD, and Mark Biebel, MD, were joined by Ramakrishna Venkatesh, MD, to present their abstract, “Improved Stone Quality of Life in Patients with Obstructing Ureteral Stone on Alpha-Blocker Medical Expulsive Therapy” during the “Stone Disease: Medical & Dietary Therapy” session. WashU medical student Tarik Phillips, Vetter, clinical research data supervisor Alethea Paradis, MTS and Alana Desai, MD.
Zachary Smith, MD, moderated the “Bladder Cancer: Invasive II” session.
Urology resident Shilpa Argade, MD, (PGY-4), presented “Evaluating 99m Tc-sestamibi Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Computed Tomography Concordance with Surgical Pathology for Renal Masses” during the “Kidney Cancer: Epidemiology & Evaluation/Staging/Surveillance I” session. Carrie Ronstrom, MD, (PGY-5), Vetter, Patel, Biebel, and R. Sherburne Figenshau, MD, co-authored the abstract.
Saturday, May 14
Clinical fellow Shellee Ogawa, MD, and Gregory Murphy, MD, presented their poster abstract “Robotic Buccal Graft Ureteroplasty Without Ureteral Rest” during the “Trauma/Reconstruction/Diversion: Ureter (including Pyeloplasty) and Bladder Reconstruction (including fistula), Augmentation, Substitution, Diversion” moderated poster session. Alexander Parker, MD, (PGY-5), Kefu Du, MD, Eric Kim, MD, and R. Sherburne Figenshau, MD, are named as co-authors.
Mark Biebel, MD, presented their poster abstract “Single Port Robotic Urologic Surgery: Fewer Ports, Higher Costs” on behalf of his team of authors including Brijesh Patel, MD, Ramakrishna Venkatesh, MD, and Figenshau, during the “Surgical Technology & Simulation: Instrumentation & Technology I” moderated poster session.
Frequent collaborators Alana Desai, MD, and H. Henry Lai, MD, moderated the “Stent Associated Symptoms after Ureteroscopy: Insights from the Urinary Stone Disease Research Network (USDRN) Study to Enhance Understanding of Stent-associated Symptoms (STENTS) Study” plenary session.
Hassan Alkazemi, MD, PGY-3 resident, and Dane Johnson, MD, presented their moderated poster “Pre-Operative Imaging is Not Necessary When Offering Varicocelectomy for Scrotal Pain” during the “Infertility: Therapy” session. Joel Vetter, MS, Alethea Paradis, MTS, and Marjorie Hosto are also featured authors of the research.
Sunday, May 15
Douglas Coplen, MD, moderated the Sunday morning plenary session, “Renal and Ureteral Duplications.”
Alana Desai, MD, joined residents Daniel Wong, MD, (PGY-2) and Amy Kuprasertkul, MD, (PGY-1) for two separate moderated poster presentations during the “Stone Disease: Surgical Therapy (including ESWL) III” session. The posters were titled “Stone Cultures for Ureteroscopy: Are They Necessary and Who Needs Them? Results from a Single Institution Series” and “Early Experiences with Vacuum Assisted Ureteral Access Sheaths.”
Nimrod Barashi, MD, (PGY-3), and Eric Kim, MD, presented their research, “Symptomatic Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia with Immune-Enriched Landscapes Show Lower Incidence of Prostate Cancer Development” during the “Prostate Cancer: Basic Research & Pathophysiology II” session. This research was co-authored by Bo Zhang, PhD, assistant professor of developmental biology, bioinformatician Tiandao Li, Charles Nottingham, MD, and Kiran Majahan, PhD.
Figenshau moderated the “Adrenal & Renal Oncology I” video session. During the session, twelve video cases were highlighted and discussed, including a case presented by Barashi. The case, titled “Complex Partial Nephrectomy in Solidary Kidney,” was supported by Patel, Biebel, Figenshau, and Siteman Cancer Center radiologist Joseph Ippolito, MD, PhD.
For the “Kidney Cancer: Localized: Surgical Therapy III” moderated poster session, Grant Henning, MD, (PGY-4) and Eric Kim, MD, presented their poster, “Single Port vs. Multi-Port Robotic Renal Surgery: Analysis of Perioperative Outcomes for Excision of High and Low Complexity Renal Masses.” Their research was co-authored by Nicholas Pickersgill, MD, Vetter, and Figenshau.
Monday, May 16
Eric Kim, MD, moderated the “Adrenal & Renal Oncology II” video session. During the session, Patel, Biebel and Figenshau presented their video case, “Intraoperative Recognition & Management of an Iatrogenic Clipping of the Superior Mesenteric Artery During Robotic Left Cytoreductive Nephrectomy.”
H. Henry Lai, MD, served as instructional course director for the “Interstitial Cystitis Amendment” course. The two-hour course reviewed the new AUA guidelines on Interstitial Cystitis Amendment and explored the rigorous processes used in the development of these evidence-based guidelines.
Research in the Division of Urologic Surgery
The surgical faculty and trainees within the Division of Urologic Surgery are dedicated to undertaking projects that are at the forefront of urologic research. Faculty and trainees collaborate within the division, conduct research with physician-scholars throughout Washington University School of Medicine, and often call upon worldwide experts in the field of urologic surgery for support in their research efforts. This commitment to scholarship, in addition to their dedication to providing excellent patient care in clinical settings, helps craft compassionate, well-informed physicians who provide their patients with ground-breaking treatments for a variety of urologic conditions.