Preoperative frailty and outcome in patients undergoing radical cystectomy

The association between frailty, hypogonadism, and postoperative outcomes among men undergoing radical cystectomy

INTRODUCTION

Hypogonadism is associated with frailty, lower health-related quality of life, decreased muscle mass, and premature mortality, which may predispose patients to poor postoperative outcomes. We aimed to determine the prevalence of hypogonadism in men undergoing radical cystectomy (RC) and whether hypogonadism and frailty are associated with adverse postoperative outcomes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The IBM MarketScan database was used to identify men who underwent RC between 2012 and 2021. Frailty was determined using published Hospital Frailty Risk Score ranges. Patients were considered to have hypogonadism if diagnosed within 5 years prior to RC. Length of stay (LOS), complications, emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient readmissions were compared. Sub-group analysis of men with hypogonadism was performed to determine the effect of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) on clinical outcomes.

RESULTS

Among 3,727 men who underwent RC, 226 (6.1%) had a diagnosis of hypogonadism. Overall, 565 (15.2%) men were low-risk frailty, 2,214 (59.4%) intermediate-risk frailty, and 948 (25.4%) were high-risk frailty, and men with hypogonadism were significantly more frail compared to men without hypogonadism (P = 0.027). There was no significant difference in LOS, complications, or rate of ED visits and inpatient readmissions between cohorts (P > 0.05). However, high-risk frailty was associated with an increased risk of 90-day ED visit (HR 1.19, 95%CI 1.00-1.41, P = 0.049) and 90-day readmission (HR 1.60, 95%CI 1.29-1.97, P < 0.001) after RC. Among men with hypogonadism, 58 (25.7%) were on TRT. There was no significant difference in frailty, LOS, complications, or 90-day ED visits or 90-day inpatient readmissions between patient with hypogonadism prescribed TRT and those without TRT.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that hypogonadism and preoperative frailty may be important to evaluate prior to undergoing RC.

Comprehensive Evaluation of the Ability of Comorbidity and Health Status Indices to Improve the Prediction of Perioperative Morbidity and Long-Term Survival Outcomes After Radical Cystectomy

BACKGROUND

In the era of standardized outcome reporting, it remains unclear if widely used comorbidity and health status indices can enhance predictive accuracy for morbidity and long-term survival outcomes after radical cystectomy (RC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In this monocentric study, we included 468 patients undergoing open RC with pelvic lymph node dissection for bladder cancer between January 2009 and December 2017. Postoperative complications were meticulously assessed according to the EAU guideline criteria for standardized outcome reporting. Multivariable regression models were fitted to evaluate the ability of ASA physical status (ASA PS), Charlson comorbidity index (± age-adjustment) and the combination of both to improve prediction of (A) 30-day morbidity key estimates (major complications, readmission, and cumulative morbidity as measured by the Comprehensive Complication index [CCI]) and (B) secondary mortality endpoints (overall [OM], cancer-specific [CSM], and other-cause mortality [OCM]).

RESULTS

Overall, 465 (99%) and 52 (11%) patients experienced 30-day complications and major complications (Clavien-Dindo grade ≥IIIb), respectively. Thirty-seven (7.9%) were readmitted within 30 days after discharge. Comorbidity and health status indices did not improve the predictive accuracy for 30-day major complications and 30-day readmission of a reference model but were associated with 30-day CCI (all P < .05). When ASA PS and age-adjusted Charlson index were combined, ASA PS was no longer associated with 30-day CCI (P = .1). At a median follow-up of 56 months (IQR 37-86), OM, CSM, and 90-day mortality were 37%, 24%, and 2.9%, respectively. Both Charlson and age-adjusted Charlson index accurately predicted OCM (all P < .001) and OM (all P ≤ .002) but not CSM (all P ≥ .4) and 90-day mortality (all P > .05). ASA PS was not associated with oncologic outcomes (all P ≥ .05).

CONCLUSION

While comorbidity and health status indices have a role in predicting OCM and OM after RC, their importance in predicting postoperative morbidity is limited. Especially ASA PS performed poorly. This highlights the need for procedure-specific comorbidity assessment rather than generic indices.

One-Year Follow-Up after Multimodal Prehabilitation Interventions in Radical Cystectomy

Multimodal prehabilitation is the process of enhancing physiological, nutritional, and psychological resilience to increase patients' functional capacity before major cancer surgery and aims to empower the patient to withstand the pending stress of major surgery and ultimately to improve long-term outcomes. The effect of physical prehabilitation to counteract the physical decline in surgical cancer patients has been documented; however, long-term results have not yet been published. This follow-up study aims to evaluate 1-year results on the efficacy of physical prehabilitation after bladder cancer surgery. The efficacy of prehabilitation was measured over the course of 1 year in 107 patients randomized to (1) pre- and rehabilitation or (2) standard care divided by n = 50 in the intervention (I) and n = 57 in the standard group (S). Physical function was measured by muscle leg power, and nutritional status was expressed with handgrip strength. Prehabilitation in major bladder cancer surgery can significantly improve physical function with 19.8 Watt/kg (p = 0.04), lean body mass (p = 0.047) and body cell mass (p = 0.03), and regained nutritional status one year after surgery. The results demonstrate that the restoration of physical function is vital to a full recovery.

Preoperative Frailty Assessment Predicts Postoperative Mortality, Delirium and Pneumonia in Elderly Lung Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive value of the 5-factor modified frailty index (mFI-5) for postoperative mortality, delirium and pneumonia in patients over 65 years of age undergoing elective lung cancer surgery.

METHODS

Data were collected from a single-center retrospective cohort study conducted in a general tertiary hospital from January 2017 to August 2019. In total, the study included 1372 elderly patients aged over 65 who underwent elective lung cancer surgery. They were divided into frail group (mFI-5, 2-5), prefrail group (mFI-5, 1) and robust group (mFI-5, 0) on the basis of mFI-5 classification. The primary outcome was postoperative 1-year all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes were postoperative pneumonia and postoperative delirium.

RESULTS

Frailty group had the highest incidence of postoperative delirium (frailty 31.2% versus prefrailty 1.6% versus robust 1.5%, p < 0.001), postoperative pneumonia (frailty 23.5% versus prefrailty 7.2% versus robust 7.7%, p < 0.001), and postoperative 1-year mortality (frailty 7.0% versus prefrailty 2.2% versus robust 1.9%. p < 0.001). Frail patients have significantly longer length of hospitalization than those in the robust group and prefrail patients (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed a clear link between frailty and increased risk of postoperative delirium (aOR 2.775, 95% CI 1.776-5.417, p < 0.001), postoperative pneumonia (aOR 3.291, 95% CI 2.169-4.993, p < 0.001) and postoperative 1-year mortality (aOR 3.364, 95% CI, 1.516-7.464, p = 0.003).

CONCLUSIONS

mFI-5 has potential clinical utility in predicting postoperative death, delirium and pneumonia incidence in elderly patients undergoing radical lung cancer surgery. Frailty screening of patients (mFI-5) may provide benefits in risk stratification, targeted intervention efforts, and assist physicians in clinical decision-making.

The effect of body mass index on quality of life in modified single stoma cutaneous ureterostomy or ileal conduit after radical cystectomy

OBJECTIVE

To explore the influence of postoperative body mass index (BMI) change on postoperative quality of life (QOL) in patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC) plus modified single stoma cutaneous ureterostomy (MSSCU) or ileal conduit (IC).

METHODS

Patients were divided into two groups according to different BMI change patterns: patients experiencing an elevated postoperative BMI level, along with a clinically significant increase in their BMI (an increase of more than 10%) were categorized as Group 1, while patients experiencing a decrease postoperative BMI level, along with a clinically significant reduction in their BMI (a decrease of more than 5%) were categorized as Group 2. Spearman correlation analysis was used to examine the correlations between quality-of-life scores and postoperative clinical parameters.

RESULTS

Spearman correlation analysis showed that postoperative BMI, late complications and catheter-free state were significantly associated with postoperative global QoL and symptom scale in MSSCU and postoperative global QoL and physical scale in IC patients. Additionally, postoperative BMI, catheter-free state and the use of adjuvant therapy were associated with bad performance in many scales of QoL like body image, future perspective, social scale, future perspective (MSSCU), and abdominal bloating (IC) (Table 2, p<0.05). Patients in Group 2 with significant weight loss had a better Global QoL, a lower rate of stomal stricture and a higher catheter-free state compared with those in Group 1 in both IC and MSSCU patients. MSSCU patients in Group 2 could achieve a comparable Global QoL as to IC patients in Group 1.

CONCLUSION

Controlling the substantial increase in body weight after surgery contributes to improving QoL, reducing the occurrence of stomal stricture, and ensuring a postoperative catheter-free state in BCa patients undergoing MSSCU.

Clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors in axial chondroblastomas: a retrospective analysis of 61 cases and comparison with extra-axial chondroblastomas

BACKGROUND

A comprehensive understanding of the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors associated with axial chondroblastoma (ACB) is still lacking. This study aimed to understand the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of axial chondroblastoma (ACB) and compare them with extra-axial chondroblastoma (EACB).

METHODS

A retrospective review of our institution's local database was conducted, encompassing a total of 132 CB patients, of which 61 were diagnosed with ACB and 71 with EACB. Immunohistochemistry was employed to evaluate the expression levels of vimentin, S100, and cytokeratin.

RESULTS

ACB and EACB shared similar characteristics, with the exception of advanced age, tumor size, elevated Vim expression, incidence of surrounding tissue invasion, and postoperative sensory or motor dysfunction. While wide resection and absence of surrounding tissue invasion consistently showed a favorable association with survival in both ACB and EACB cohorts during univariate analysis, most parameters exhibited differential prognostic significance between the two groups. Notably, the significant prognostic factors for local recurrence-free survival in the ACB cohort included the type of resection and the presence of chicken-wire calcification. In the multivariate analysis of overall survival, the type of resection emerged as a significant predictor in the ACB cohort, whereas in the EACB group, the type of resection and the occurrence of postoperative sensory or motor dysfunction were predictive of overall survival.

CONCLUSION

There may exist distinct biological behaviors between ACB and EACB, thereby providing valuable insights into the prognostic characteristics of ACB patients and contributing to enhanced outcome prediction in this particular patient population.

The short- and long-term effect of radical cystectomy in frail patients with bladder cancer

BACKGROUND

Studies about perioperative complications and all-cause mortality in frail patients requiring radical cystectomy (RC) are scarce. We aimed to assess the short- and long-term effect of RC in frail patients with bladder cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We performed a retrospective, cohort study including patients who underwent open RC due to bladder cancer from November 2013 to June 2022. Patients were considered frail when they fulfilled one of the following criteria: i) age ≥ 75 years; ii) Charlson Comorbidity Index ≥ 9; iii) American Society of Anesthesiologists classification ≥ 4; or iv) Clinical Frailty Scale score ≥ 5. We evaluated all-cause mortality and complications in frail versus nonfrail patients. The effect of urinary diversion with ileal conduit versus ureterocutaneostomy in frail patients was also assessed via a Cox regression analysis.

RESULTS

Overall, 184 individuals underwent RC (95 frail and 89 nonfrail). A total of 130 patients (80%) presented at least one perioperative complication. This proportion was even higher among frail patients (86%). Similarly, severe perioperative complications were more common in frail patients based on the Clavien-Dindo classification (P = 0.044). Regarding disease progression and long-term complications, no statistically significant differences were observed between frail and nonfrail patients. The survival analysis with Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrated that the risk of death was increased in frail patients (log-rank test = 0.027). Based on the multivariate Cox regression analysis adjusting for major risk factors, urinary diversion with ureterocutaneostomy was significantly associated with increased mortality in frail patients compared to ileal conduit (Hazard Ratio: 3.5, 95% Confidence Interval: 1.3-9.4, P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

RC is feasible in frail patients but is associated with increased perioperative morbidity and mortality. Preoperative frailty screening should be implemented to counsel and carefully select patients eligible for RC.

The CUSUM curve combined with comprehensive complication index for assessing short-term complications of radical cystectomy

Objective

To evaluate the comprehensive complication index(CCI) and Clavien‐Dindo classification(CDC) for short‐term postoperative complications in radical cystectomy and assess cumulative surgical morbidity to compare sufficient surgical skill.

Methods

From September 30, 2010, to October 1, 2020, clinical data of patients with urothelial carcinoma who underwent radical cystectomy with urinary diversion were gathered, patients who had only a urinary diversion, bladder sparing surgery, additional abdominal surgeries at the same time were all excluded. The CDC and CCI were utilized to evaluate 30‐d complications after radical cystectomy and the relevance of hospital stay was compared between CCI and CDC. The cumulative sum control models (CUSUM) were used to evaluate the overall surgical morbidity of radical cystectomy in our facility and for comparisons between surgeons.

Results

This study enrolled a total of 635 individuals, 548 (86.3%) of whom had 1124 problems. The incidence of severe complications (CDC≥ Grade III) was 10.2%. The average CCI was 20.2 ± 14.7. Gender, urinary diversion subtype, procedure method, and surgeon were significantly correlated with the increase of CCI (p < 0.05). The CCI demonstrated a better relationship with hospital stay (R² = 0.429) than the CDC (R² = 0.361). The CUSUM‐CCI model demonstrated a difference and growth distribution in dynamic time between individual surgeons.

Conclusions

CCI can better reflect the incidence of complications for radical cystectomy than CDC, and CCI is more strongly correlated with postoperative hospital stay. The CUSUM‐CCI model can reflect the quality of surgical skill for each surgeon instantaneously.

Comorbidity Scores and Machine Learning Methods Can Improve Risk Assessment in Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer

BACKGROUND: Pre-operative risk assessment in radical cystectomy (RC) is an ongoing challenge especially in elderly patients. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ability of comorbidity indices and their combination with clinical parameters in machine learning models to predict mortality and morbidity after RC. METHODS: In 392 patients who underwent open RC, complication and mortality rates were reported. The predictive values of the age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity index (aCCI), the Elixhauser Index (EI), the Physical Status Classification System (ASA) and Gagne’s combined comorbidity Index (GCI) were evaluated using regression analyses. Various machine learning models (Gaussian naïve bayes, logistic regression, neural net, decision tree, random forest) were additionally investigated. RESULTS: The aCCI, ASA and GCI showed significant results for the prediction of complications (χ 2 = 8.8, p <  0.01, χ 2 = 15.7, p <  0.01 and χ 2 = 4.6, p = 0.03) and mortality (χ 2 = 21.1, p <  0.01, χ 2 = 25.8, p <  0.01 and χ 2 = 2.4, p = 0.04) after RC while the EI showed no significant prediction. However, areas under receiver characteristic curves (AUROCs) revealed good performance only for the prediction of mortality by the aCCI and ASA (0.81 and 0.78, CGI 0.63) while the prediction of complications was poor (aCCI 0.6, ASA 0.63, CGI 0.58). The combination of ASA, age, body mass index and sex in machine learning models showed a better prediction. Gaussian naïve bayes (0.79) and logistic regression (0.76) showed the best performance using a hold-out test set. CONCLUSIONS: The ASA and aCCI show good prediction of mortality after RC but fail predicting complications accurately. Here, the combination of comorbidity indices and clinical parameters in machine learning models seems promising.

Risk factors for postoperative ileus after robot-assisted radical cystectomy with intracorporeal urinary diversion

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the risk factors for postoperative ileus in patients who underwent robot-assisted radical cystectomy with intracorporeal urinary diversion.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed 78 patients with bladder cancer who underwent robot-assisted radical cystectomy with intracorporeal urinary diversion at Fujita Health University between 2011 and 2021. Baseline characteristics and perioperative outcomes were compared between the cohorts with and without ileus. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors for postoperative ileus.

RESULTS

Out of the 78 patients included in this study, 20 (25.6%) developed postoperative ileus. The ileus cohort was associated with a significantly lower Geriatric-8 score (P = 0.003) and a higher rate of previous abdominal/pelvic surgery (P = 0.04) compared with those of the nonileus cohort. Significantly longer intestinal tract reconstruction time, hospital stay, time to mobilization, fluid intake, solid intake, flatus, and stool were observed in the ileus cohort. According to the results of the logistic regression analysis, the Geriatric-8 sum (P = 0.009), time to mobilization (P = 0.03), and time to fluid intake (P = 0.004) were independent predictors of postoperative ileus. In the model predicting postoperative ileus, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.716, and the cutoff value of the Geriatric-8 sum was 13.

CONCLUSIONS

Early mobilization and fluid intake and low Geriatric-8 scores were significant risk factors for postoperative ileus. Preoperative Geriatric-8 evaluation is a useful tool for predicting postoperative ileus. Comprehensive enhanced recovery after surgery, including key components, may help bowel recovery and prevent subsequent ileus.

Comparison of comorbidity indices for prediction of morbidity and mortality after major surgical procedures

BACKGROUND

Assessing perioperative risk is essential for surgical decision-making. Our study compares the accuracy of comorbidity indices to predict morbidity and mortality.

METHODS

Analyzing the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, 16 major procedures were identified and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Charlson Comorbidity Index and modified Frailty Index were calculated. We fit models with each comorbidity index for prediction of morbidity, mortality, and prolonged length of stay (pLOS). Decision Curve Analysis determined the effectiveness of each model.

RESULTS

Of 650,437 patients, 11.7%, 6.0%, 17.0% and 0.75% experienced any, major complication, pLOS, and mortality, respectively. Each index was an independent predictor of morbidity, mortality, and pLOS (p < 0.05). While the indices performed similarly for morbidity and pLOS, ASA demonstrated greater net benefit for threshold probabilities of 1-5% for mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

Models including readily available factors (age, sex) already provide a robust estimation of perioperative morbidity and mortality, even without considering comorbidity indices. All comorbidity indices show similar accuracy for prediction of morbidity and pLOS, while ASA, the score easiest to calculate, performs best in prediction of mortality.