Cape Town, South Africa (UroToday.com) Dr. Okhunov and colleagues at the University of California, Irvine, hypothesized that ureteral innervation differs between sexes, and therefore sought to determine the overall distribution of the autonomic nerves along the length of the human ureter.
They found that the density of nerves within the ureteral adventitia and smooth muscle increased from proximal to distal ureter, with a particularly high concentration of nerves at the ureterovesical junction and distal ureter. Additionally, they reported that nerve density was greater in the adventitia than the smooth muscle. This finding was particularly pronounced in females compared to males.
Dr. Okhunov stated that his department is currently expanding this area of research by trying to further delineate the nerve fibers in the hopes of developing targeted therapy for conditions like ureteral stent pain and for procedures such as ureteral access sheath placement.
Presented by:
Zhamshid Okhunov¹, Simone L. Vernez¹, Jamie Wikenheiser², Cyrus Khoyilar¹, Renai Yoon¹, Rahul Dutta¹, Kathryn Osann¹, Kamaljot Kaler¹, Ramy F. Youssef¹, Thomas Lee³, Jaime Landman¹
¹University of California, Irvine, USA, Department of Urology
²University of California, Irvine, USA, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
³University of California, Irvine, USA, Department of Pathology
Written By: Shoaib Safiullah, MS4 at The Chicago Medical School, LIFT Urology research fellow
34th World Congress of Endourology and SAUA meeting - November 7-12, 2016 – Cape Town, South Africa