Risk Factors Leading to Radical Cystectomy in Patients Who Had Undergone Nephroureterectomy

Purpose: To identify the risk factors leading to radical cystectomy in patients who had undergone nephroureterectomy (NUx).Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma who underwent NUx during 2011–2019 and excluded patients with metastatic cancer. In total 646 patients were included in this study; of these, 532 had no previous bladder cancer history. Follow-up was performed every 3 months for 2 years after NUx was administered, and recurrence was confirmed using cystoscopy, urine cytology, computed tomography, and chest radiography. Bladder recurrence was confirmed through biopsy, urine cytology, or radiologic examination. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyzes were performed for statistical analysis of risk factors leading to radical cystectomy in patients undergoing NUx.Results: Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) (hazard ratio [HR], 4.728; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.463–15.570; p=0.011), previous transurethral resection of bladder tumor history (HR, 3.825; 95% CI, 1.164–12.571; p=0.027), and intravesical recurrence (IVR) within 6 months (HR, 3.733; 95% CI, 1.091–12.778; p=0.036) in patients undergoing NUx are predictors of radical cystectomy implementation. In a multivariate analysis of patients without bladder cancer history, bladder recurrence was identified as a predictor of radical cystectomy implementation, if it occurred within 6 months of NUx (HR, 8.608; 95% CI, 1.545–47.976; p=0.014).Conclusions: LVI and IVR within 6 months and previous bladder cancer history are factors that can predict the need for radical cystectomy after NUx. Even in patients without bladder cancer history, early bladder recurrence within 6 months is a major predictor of radical cystectomy.

The Predictive Value of Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index on Bladder Recurrence on Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma Outcomes after Radical Nephroureterectomy

Background: This study aimed to assess the prognostic significance of pre-treatment lymphocyte-related systemic inflammatory biomarkers in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) patients. Methods: This study included non-metastatic UTUC patients treated at our hospital between 2001 and 2013. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to obtain the optimal neutrophile-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII). Multivariate logistic regression was performed to investigate the relationship between NLR, PLR, and SII and clinical pathologic characteristics. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to calculate the metastasis-free survival (MFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and bladder recurrence-free survival (BRFS), and the log-rank test was used to compare the survival rate. Results: Overall, 376 patients were included in the current study. An elevated SII was associated with symptomatic hydronephrosis, bladder cancer history, advanced pathologic tumor stage, lymph node invasion, adjuvant chemotherapy and concomitant carcinoma in situ (CIS); high NLR was associated with older age, symptomatic hydronephrosis, hemodialysis status, anemia, multifocal tumor, advanced pathologic tumor stage, and adjuvant chemotherapy; and high PLR was associated with older age, anemia, advanced pathologic tumor stage, and adjuvant chemotherapy. The Kaplan–Meier analysis indicated that patients exhibiting higher NLR, PLR, and SII showed significantly poor MFS and CSS rates. Only high SII showed significantly worse BRFS rates. Conclusions: The NLR, PLR, and SII were independent predictive factors for both MFS and CSS in UTUC patients. Among the factors, only elevated SII can predict bladder recurrence. Therefore, the patients might need close bladder monitoring during the follow-up.

Tumor distribution affects bladder recurrence but not survival outcome of multifocal upper tract urothelial carcinoma treated with radical nephroureterectomy

Tumor multifocality and location are prognostic factors for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). However, confounding effects can appear when these two factors are analyzed together. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the impact of tumor distribution on the outcomes of multifocal UTUC after radical nephroureterectomy. From the 2780 UTUC patients in the Taiwan UTUC Collaboration Group, 685 UTUC cases with multifocal tumors (defined as more than one tumor lesion in unilateral upper urinary tract) were retrospectively included and divided into three groups: multiple renal pelvic tumors, multiple ureteral tumors, and synchronous renal pelvic and ureteral tumors included 164, 152, and 369 patients, respectively. We found the prevalence of carcinoma in situ was the highest in the synchronous group. In multivariate survival analyses, tumor distribution showed no difference in cancer-specific and disease-free survival, but there was a significant difference in bladder recurrence-free survival. The synchronous group had the highest bladder recurrence rate. In summary, tumor distribution did not influence the cancer-specific outcomes of multifocal UTUC, but synchronous lesions led to a higher rate of bladder recurrence than multiple renal pelvic tumors. We believe that the distribution of tumors reflects the degree of malignant involvement within the urinary tract, but has little significance for survival or disease progression.

The Predictive Value of Systemic Immune-inflammation Index on Bladder Recurrence on Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma Outcomes After Radical Nephroureterectomy

Background: To assess the prognostic significance of pre-treatment lymphocyte-related systemic inflammatory biomarkers in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) patients.Methods: This study included non-metastatic UTUC patients treated at our hospital between 2001 and 2013. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to obtain the optimal neutrophile-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII). Multivariate logistic regression was performed to investigate the relationship between NLR, PLR, and SII and clinical pathologic characteristics. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to calculate the metastasis-free survival (MFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and bladder recurrence-free survival (BRFS) and the log-rank test to compare the survival rate.Results: Overall, 376 patients were included in the current study. Multivariate analysis revealed that an elevated SII was associated with advanced pathologic tumor stage, lymph node invasion, and adjuvant chemotherapy; high NLR was associated with older age, hemodialysis status, anemia, multifocal tumor, advanced pathologic tumor stage, and adjuvant chemotherapy; and high PLR was associated with older age, anemia, advanced pathologic tumor stage, and adjuvant chemotherapy. The Kaplan–Meier analysis indicated that patients exhibiting higher NLR, PLR, and SII showed significantly poor MFS and CSS rates. Only high SII showed significantly worse BRFS rates.Conclusions: The NLR, PLR, and SII were independent predictive factors for both MFS and CSS in UTUC patients. Among the factors, only elevated SII can predict bladder recurrence. Therefore, the patients might need close bladder monitoring during the follow-up.

Bladder Recurrence Following the Treatment of Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma

Objective: Although, upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is rare it is associated with a high mortality rate and frequently, followed by bladder recurrence after radical surgery. Hence, this study aimed to identify the rate of bladder recurrence and its predictive factors.Material and Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 104 patients, who were diagnosed with UTUC and had radical nephroureterectomy (RNU), at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. We excluded patients who have concurrent bladder cancer, or had a history of bladder cancer. Various clinicopathological factors were analyzed using the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard model.Results: The mean age at diagnosis of UTUC was 68 years, and one-third of the patients were diagnosed with pathological T3 (33.7%). The mean follow-up duration was 56 months. Bladder recurrence occurred in 39 out of 104 patients (37.5%), and the median time to recurrence was 5.8 months (interquartile range 3.6 to 11.0 months). Tumor location in the distal ureter (p-value=0.038) and history of diagnostic ureteroscopy (p-value=0.004) were significantly associated with bladder recurrence in the univariate model. However, only the history of diagnostic ureteroscopy remained significant in the multivariate analysis (p-value=0.023).Conclusion: Bladder recurrence, following RNU, occurs in one-third of patients. Potential predictive factors may include history of diagnostic ureteroscopy, and the tumor location being in the distal ureter.

Photodynamic Diagnosis-Assisted Transurethral Resection Using Oral 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Decreases the Risk of Repeated Recurrence in Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Cumulative Incidence Analysis by the Person-Time Method

Clinical evidence regarding risk reduction of repeated bladder recurrence after initial photodynamic diagnosis (PDD)-assisted transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) is still limited in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). We analyzed patients with primary NMIBC undergoing TURBT without any adjuvant treatment to compare the risk of cumulative recurrence between the conventional white-light (WL)-TURBT and PDD-TURBT. Out of 430 patients diagnosed with primary NMIBC from 2010 to 2019, 40 undergoing WL-TURBT and 60 undergoing PDD-TURBT were eligible. Multivariate Cox regression analysis for time to the first recurrence demonstrated that PDD assistance was an independent prognostic factor with better outcome (p = 0.038, hazard ratio = 0.39, and 95% confidence interval 0.16–0.95). While no patient experienced more than one recurrence within 1000 postoperative days in the PDD-TURBT group, five out of 40 patients treated by WL-TURBT experienced repeated recurrence. The comparison of cumulative incidence per 10,000 person-days between the two groups revealed that PDD assistance decreased by 6.6 recurrences per 10,000 person-days (exact p = 0.011; incidence rate ratio 0.37, Clopper–Pearson confidence interval 0.15–0.82). This is the first study addressing PDD assistance-induced risk reduction of repeated bladder recurrence using the person-time method. Our findings could support clinical decision making, especially on adjuvant therapy after TURBT.