Editorial

Accompanying this issue of the British Journal of Medical and Surgical Urology is a supplement on castrate resistant prostate cancer. This is significant; it is the first supplement we have produced and an important step in the evolution of the journal. More importantly, it relates to a really hot topic. There are two new agents in castrate resistant prostate cancer which offer real promise, and for the first time we can begin to see a time when we may be able to make this disease a “chronic disease” with different approaches for increasingly treatment-resistant disease. To some extent this has been achieved already in breast cancer, a disease which shares a number of similarities. I urge you to read this supplement; the papers are well written and co-ordinated with a good story to tell.

With the advent of Prasugrel — a highly potent alternative to Clopidogrel — it is timely to have an article on the management of anti-thrombotic agents in the peri-operative period. I was certainly caught out by Clopidogrel which slipped in under the radar with a name quite unlike any other agent in use at the time, hence there was no class recognition. The two other original articles, on when to refer a haematuria patient for renal review and how to investigate a patient with persistent haematospermia, also present everyday topics of importance to almost all of us in clinical practice.

I found the article on urology websites interesting, and slightly humbling. It is not difficult to edit a website and make it both interesting and informative, but how many of us have done it in the NHS? How many of us have done it in the private sector? Many businesses rely on it as their main marketing strategy. In an increasingly competitive healthcare market place if the White Paper is implemented, we all need to give our websites attention.

Publishing the abstracts for the September Section of Endourology meeting reminds me that there were a lot of good papers at the BAUS Annual Meeting in Liverpool. Why not write them up and submit them to the BJMSU? The Annual Meeting is a good opportunity to get feedback on your work prior to formally writing it up for a peer-reviewed journal.