Micro Blog Articles by Henry Rosevear, MD

I recently saw a young man in clinic who presented with a large testicular mass.  As I was explaining the situation to the patient and his family, I could clearly sense a feeling of regret as the patient and his family realized that there had been a long delay in diagnosis due to the patient simply not being aware of the signs of testicular cancer.

As such, I thought it would be worth the time to review the most common (though certainly not an all-inclusive) signs of testicular cancer.

Signs or symptoms of testicular cancer:

Painless lump or swelling on either testicle. This is the most common symptoms of localized disease and all hard lumps in the scrotum demand immediate evaluation by a urologist. 

A change in the way a testicle feels. I’ve heard this described as a “heaviness in the scrotum” or a “dull ache in the lower abdomen or groin.

Breast tenderness or growth. This is much less common but some testicular tumors make hormones that cause breast tenderness or growth of breast tissue.

Other symptoms such as back pain, shortness of breath, chest pain, swelling of one or both legs and bloody sputum or phlegm can be symptoms of late stage testicular cancer.

If you have any doubts, please call and make an appointment. Testicular cancer is one of the most curable types of cancer assuming that it is diagnosed early.

It’s that time of year again, the time when people make New Year’s resolutions and what more common resolution is there than to lose weight?

But does weight loss help you urologically?

YES!  Obesity is the number one cause of kidney cancer. In addition to that, weight loss has strong links to urinary leakage, erectile dysfunction, infertility and kidney stones.

No one is says that losing weight is easy and if I knew of a magic pill, I’d be home spending more time with my daughters than I currently do, but losing weight is possible.  And let’s be honest, while there are certainly urological advantages to staying fit, the major benefit of losing weight is better cardiovascular health which is the number one killer of Americans.

Whatever your resolution for 2019 is, I wish you the very best and brightest over the upcoming year. Happy New Years everyone!

In 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare), the Physician Payment Sunshine Act was also enacted.  This law required that all medical product manufacturers disclose to the government any payment or other transfer of value made to physicians or teaching hospitals. 

The law requires that the information be public and searchable.  For those who want to see what their doctors received, the website is here.  

Here at Pikes Peak Urology we open our doors to various medical product manufacturers, mostly drug companies, two days a week.  On those days, the companies provide lunch for our staff.  It is the value of those lunches that are counted in the “general payments” section of the website.  

We believe that these lunch time meetings are valuable opportunities for us to stay abreast of the latest data on the drugs we provide.  It also allows us to talk to the companies directly about upcoming medical advances and to stay up to date on changes to formularies.The purpose of the Sunshine Act was to ensure transparency; here at Pikes Peak Urology we strongly support such efforts.  If anyone has questions about our policy, please do not hesitate to ask me at your next office visit.

Everyone knows that testosterone replacement makes men feel better.  It increases concentration, libido and energy levels.  It can also, though, cause significant problems not the least of which is deep venous thrombosis (DVT’s).  DVT’s are life threatening clots usually of the veins of the legs that can spread to the lungs causing death.  

In 2014, the FDA warned the public about the risk of testosterone replacement causing DVT’s.  The Harvard Medical School published a great article summarizing the FDA’s warning here.

Recently a new study has been published which questions this association.  The article published in the journal Urology(which you can read here) studied 1180 men on testosterone replacement and only found a 0.8% risk of DVT’s. The authors conclude that when compared to the general population, the risk of DVT’s in men on testosterone replacement is not significantly elevated.

While this is great news for men on testosterone replacement, it needs to be emphasized that the men on this study were still closely monitored for other risk factors for DVT’s including an elevated hemoglobin level so while men on testosterone replacement can sleep a bit better tonight, testosterone replacement remains a two-edge sword requiring careful medical management.

If you have questions regarding the pros and cons of testosterone replacement, please feel free to contact my office to make an appointment.

It’s never easy telling a patient they have cancer.  And it’s worse when you have to tell them that the disease has spread.  Until recently, when a patient presented with prostate cancer that had spread to other organs (referred to as metastatic prostate cancer), all I could offer them was a combination of hormone therapy, chemotherapy and immune therapy.

Not anymore.  A new study published here in the European Urology Journal (one of the most respected journals in urology) shows that patients with low volume metastatic prostate cancer benefit greatly from radiation therapy to the prostate in addition to standard treatment.

This is a true game changer and something that will improve not only patient’s quantity of life but also just as importantly their quality of life.

If you know a loved one battling metastatic prostate cancer and have questions about whether this new study directly impacts them, call me and we’ll sit down and discuss this terribly important study.