In a news item published in BMJ (2012) by Wise, overall death from cancer is predicted to fall by 17% in UK by 2030. The predictions were based on the latest figures from the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. In particular age adjusted prostate cancer deaths are predicted to fall by 16% due to earlier diagnosis and better treatment.

In an article published in BJUI (2012), the authors report that patients with blood group O have a better overall survival than other blood types, after surgery for renal cell carcinoma. This result has been observed in other cancer types.

In an article by Brigantine et al, published in Eur Urol (2012), the authors look at whether adjuvant or salvage radiotherapy is best to achieve prostate cancer cure following radical prostatectomy. This matched case control study of 890 men showed no difference in treating pT3 disease immediately post radical prostatectomy (adjuvant), or treating a rising PSA above 0.2 but below 0.5 ng/ml (salvage). At 2 and 5 years post surgery PSA recurrence free rates were about 91% and 80% in both groups with no statistical difference. Salvage treating reduces the need to treat all high risk men and reduces the morbidity of unnecessary radiotherapy. This is probably the best published evidence addressing this question to date, but the results of a randomised trial is awaited.

In an article published in BMJ, Zimmerman et al report an observational study of adults living in Alberta, Canada, between April 1997 and March 2009 who were registered with the provincial health registry. Those who developed a kidney stone during this time (n=23 706) were compared with the rest of the population (n=3 065 488) for risk of developing end stage renal disease (ESRD). They reported that one or more stone episodes during the follow-up period was associated with an increased risk of ESRD (adjusted hazard ratio 2.16 (95% CI 1.79 to 2.62)). The number of individuals who developed ESRD in the entire cohort was 5333 (0.2%) compared with 129 (0.5%) in the kidney stone cohort.