The May – June 2001 issue of the Brazilian Journal of Urology presents important contributions from USA, Europe, Asia and Brazil, and the Editor will highlight some papers.
     Doctor Clayman, from Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, a well know leader in minimally invasive procedures, presents on page 209 a special article on the evolution of urological surgery, focusing in the waning of the wound. This article is a retrospective analysis on the past 25 years and a discussion on where the urological surgery might be in the next few years, due to advances in laparoscopy, microinstrumentation, robotics, telepresence, needle ablative surgery, and noninvasive technology.
     Doctor Koçak and colleagues from the Adnan Menderes University School of Medicine, Aydin, Turkey, publish on page 289 an elegant investigative study on the efficacy of sodium hyaluronate (NaHA) in a rat renal injury model. The NaHA was compared to controls, to microfibrillar collagen powder and to oxidized regenerated cellulose. NaHA was found to be effective for control the parenchymal bleeding and for preventing perirenal adhesion formation.
     Doctor Rafaelli and co-workers from Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil (page 255), assessed if there is any association between human sperm morphology and the sperm-zona pellucida binding ability under in vitro fertilization conditions. The authors found a high correlation between sperm morphology evaluated by the strict criteria and its capacity of firmly connect to the zona pellucida.
     Doctor Petrou and colleagues from Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Florida, USA, after reviewing 100 women submitted to surgery for stress urinary incontinence, present on page 275 a method of pubovaginal sling positioning that decreases permanent postoperative urinary retention and restores continence. The authors emphasize that their approach removes any emotionality from determination of sling tension and is devoid of the need for any intellectual exercise or special equipment during any phase of the surgery. Also, for tying the sling-suspending sutures, the authors place the patient in the reverse Trendelenburg position, which shifts the abdominal contents into a more dependent position in the pelvis and may limit the potential inadvertent oversupport of the urethra by the sling.
     Doctor Zulian and co-workers from Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, present on page 215 an important series of 1,000 patients submitted to transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. The authors used distilled water as irrigating fluid and a suprapubic shunt for allowing low bladder pressure during the procedure. They found that this method of TURP is safe and efficient, with a low complication rate and satisfactory results up to 14 years.
     Doctor Cam and associates (page 222) from Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey, assessed if there is any contribution in adding lesion directed and transitional zone (TZ) biopsies into systematic peripheral zone (PZ) prostatic biopsies for diagnosing prostatic cancer. After studying 271 patients, the authors found that the detection rate of lesion directed biopsies was low (3.4%) and TZ biopsies had no significant yield in cancer detection in patients undergoing initial systematic transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy.

Dr. Francisco J. B. Sampaio
Editor-in-Chief