Molecular Diagnostic and Treatment Methods in Socially Significant Diseases in Urology

Dear Colleagues,

Urology is a specialty that harbors a lot of socially significant diseases with a heavy burden on the healthcare system and significant negative effects on the well-being of our patients. Only in the last few decades have we begun to gain insight into the molecular basis of their biological nature, diagnostics, and treatment. Those advances and breakthroughs in our knowledge have begun to help us overcome the formidable challenge that urological socially significant diseases represent at present:

• Urolithiasis: a worldwide common disease affecting as much as 20 % of the population in some countries. In the last two decades, a significant shift has been observed in the focus of the research in the field, from relying only on the treatment of urinary stones at the present moment to perceiving urolithiasis as a metabolic chronic disease, necessitating the uncovering of its molecular basis;
• Benign prostate hyperplasia: a universal problem for all males over 50 years of age, one that leads to severe decrease of QoL and economic toll in the range of tenths of billions. Some of the most significant advantages in the past are due to molecular biology, e.g., alpha-blockers and 5-ARI, and some of the most promising perspectives for the future will also emerge from there;
• Uro-oncology: one of the most complex and resourceful oncological diseases in the field of Urology (prostate cancer, bladder cancer, renal cancer, just to name a few). Molecular sciences have enormously impacted these studies, and it appears that this is just the beginning. The change in that area is so significant that it is taught that the next generation of urologists may never see more of the methods we use in the diagnostic and treatment of those diseases today;
• Recurrent urinary tract infection: one of Urology’s biggest “gray areas” with unimaginable health costs. We still fail to gain adequate knowledge and bench-to-bed transition of basic science to achieve better results for those patients.

These facts support the urgent need for new molecular research in the field of socially significant disease in Urology, aiming to improve screening, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as help in clinical decision-making and implementing personalized medicine concepts for our patients. This Special Issue is dedicated to all contemporary progress and future trends in the field.

Original papers, review articles, and opinions from experts in the field are welcome.

Dr. Elenko Popov
Guest Editor

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• prostate cancer
• bladder cancer
• renal-cell cancer
• risk stratification
• urolithiasis
• chronic UTIs
• BPH
• clinical decision-making