Improvement Based on Conventional Wisdom and New Idea

Article information

Int Neurourol J. 2020;24(1):2-2

Publication date (electronic) : 2020 March 30

doi : https://doi.org/10.5213/inj.2020edi.002

Department of Urology, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea

In the area of neurourology, the spectrum of disease characteristics is very diverse. And the clinical characteristics of the patients are affected by each one’s genetic background, lifestyle, and comorbidities. Therefore, every patient with the same disease presents different features with each other. For example, overactive bladder (OAB) patients show various lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). In general, OAB patients present classic OAB symptoms such as frequency, urgency, or nocturia; however, some patients present voiding LUTS such as weak urinary stream as the most bothersome LUTS. And this situation can be a factor in the disturbing exact diagnosis and decrease the effect of treatment. Thus, there have been many attempts to improve the diagnostic method.

Usually, patients with neurourologic problems express their LUTS very subjectively, and the way of showing their LUTS can be different according to their personal and social characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to objectify subjective symptoms, and various symptom questionnaires have been using to evaluate the patient’s LUTS. The present issue of the International Neurourology Journal (INJ) introduces the Korean version of the Wisconsin Stone Quality of Life Questionnaire and Urgency and Overactive Bladder Questionnaire after linguistic validation for clinical use [1,2]. There are many studies about the importance of microbiome on human health, and the role has been expanded. However, there is an important issue before we think about the clinical application in neurourology. Microbiome found in urine can be affected by the urine collection methods. The study by Pohl et al. [3] reported the difference of urinary microbiome according to the urine collection method in healthy men and women. Thus, further studies to develop a standard urine collection method are necessary for the clinical application of microbiome in the neurourologic field.

Moreover, in this issue of the INJ, 2 review articles give additional and useful information of underactive bladder (UAB) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) as well as new insight for the neurourology. Overview of UAB and robotic surgery of BPH increase knowledge of the disease entities and therapeutic approach [4,5].

Notes

Conflict of Interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

References

1. Yoon YE, Cho SY. Translation and linguistic validation of the Korean version of the Wisconsin Stone Quality of Life Questionnaire. Int Neurourol J 2020;24:77–83.

2. Kim SE, Lee HS, Lee HN, Lee SY, Choo MS, Park MG, et al. Korean translation and linguistic validation of urgency and overactive bladder questionnaires. Int Neurourol J 2020;24:66–76.

3. Pohl HG, Groah SL, Pérez-Losada M, Ljungberg I, Sprague BM, Chandal N, et al. The urine microbiome of healthy men and women differs by urine collection method. Int Neurourol J 2020;24:29–39.

4. Cho JM, Moon KT, Yoo TK. Robotic simple prostatectomy: why and how? Int Neurourol J 2020;24:12–20.

5. Chancellor MB, Bartolone SN, Lamb LE, Ward E, Zwaans BMM, Diokno A. Underactive bladder; review of progress and impact from the international CURE-UAB initiative. Int Neurourol J 2020;24:3–11.

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