Spotlight on Urology
Spotlight on Urology takes a look at recent activities undertaken to advance urology around the world. This week, we provide an update on USANZ at the AUA in Washington DC, share news from a USANZ Member's work abroad, congratulate the recipient of a recent USANZ EOI and continue our coverage of bladder cancer in the media.
AUA 2026
The American Urological Association (AUA) held their Annual Congress in Washington, DC last weekend from 15-18 May 2026.
It was great to see so many USANZ Members attend and present at this significant international conference.
A key highlight from AUA 2026 was the joint BAUS-BJUI-USANZ Session on Saturday 16 May. The session focused on 'Answering the Burning Questions' of Urinary Tract Infection Management. The session was chaired by BJUI Editor Freddie Hamdy, BJUI Compass Editor Michael Gorin, BAUS President Ian Pearce and USANZ President Damien Bolton.
The selected USANZ Speaker for the Joint Session was Sandra Elmer (Deputy Leader of USANZ Female Urology SAG), who presented on "Vaccines for urinary tract infection". Other speakers discussed topics including urobiome, recurrent UTIs, avoiding UTIs after office procedures, antibiotic prophylaxis and hot kidney. This presentation focused on the evolving role of sublingual bacterial vaccination in the management of recurrent urinary tract infections (rUTIs), with emphasis on real-world clinical outcomes, patient selection, safety, and positioning vaccines within contemporary antibiotic-sparing strategies. Thank you to Damien who shared the below photo of Sandra's presentation.
Sandra Elmer presenting at AUA 2026
Sachinka Ranasinghe in Ethopia
USANZ Member Sachinka Ranasinghe recently spent a week in Ethopia with the BAUS Urolink group. Urolink has been part of BAUS since 1988 and has conducted many aid trips in Africa with the focus being on teaching/helping units so they can self sustain. Find out more about Urolink on the BAUS website.
Sachinka shared the following reflections on his trip.
We spent a week running two bootcamps to train local trainees and Urologists on emergency situations (torsion, bladder injury, boari flap, penile fracture) and 2 days teaching/performing supine PCNLs alongside local surgeons. It was an extremely rewarding experience and will hopefully allow the south of Ethiopia (20 million population) to have access to PCNL rather than requiring open surgery.
Thank you Sachinka for sharing this story about your important contribution to global Urology. Sachinka also supplied the below photos from his trip.
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USANZ Speaker at São Paulo Meeting
The USANZ Board of Directors recently called for EOIs for the USANZ Lecture at the São Paulo Meeting of Urology. The meeting, organised by the Brazilian Society of Urology (SBU - São Paulo Section), will be held from 3-6 September 2026.
We are pleased to announce that the successful candidate was Dr Jeremy Grummet. Jeremy will speak on focal therapy for intermediate risk localised prostate cancer. Congratulations Jeremy!
We wish Jeremy all the best for the presentation and look forward to hearing about his time in São Paulo.
Bladder Cancer in the Media
On 6 May, USANZ published a media release about bladder cancer survival rates. This continues to garner media attention.
Following our previous updates (in UroNews on 8 May and 15 May), the Daily Mail has now published an article based on the media release.
The article is titled "Husband and wife both had sore backs and put it down to 'kidney stones'. Turns out they had the same cancer". Phil and Robyn Neven spoke about how urinating blood and lower back pain led to bladder cancer diagnoses.
The article also included commentary from USANZ Member Weranja Ranasinghe (Genitourinary Oncology SAG Leader), who spoke about the challenges of treating bladder cancer, especially when it speads outside the muscle layer
Early detection remains vital for bladder cancer, which is the 11th most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia. Survival rates for this cancer have not improved over the past 30 years.
USANZ thanks Weranja for his continued work in communicating with the public about this important urological issue.
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