Ureteral location is associated with survival outcomes in upper tract urothelial carcinoma: A population-based analysis

Robotic distal ureterectomy for high-risk distal ureteral urothelial carcinoma: a retrospective multicenter comparative analysis (ROBUUST 2.0 collaborative group)

BACKGROUND

The role of kidney-sparing surgery in patients with high-risk upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma is controversial. The present study aimed to assess oncological and functional outcomes of robot-assisted distal ureterectomy in patients with high-risk distal ureteral tumors.

METHODS

The ROBUUST 2.0 multicenter international (2015-2022) dataset was used for this retrospective cohort analysis. High-risk patients with distal ureteral tumors were divided based on type of surgery: robot-assisted distal ureterectomy or robot-assisted nephroureterectomy. A survival analysis was performed for local recurrence-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and overall survival. After adjusting for clinical features of the high-risk prognostic group, Cox proportional hazard model was plotted to evaluate significant predictors of time-to-event outcomes.

RESULTS

Overall, 477 patients were retrieved, of which 58 received robot-assisted distal ureterectomy and 419 robot-assisted nephroureterectomy, respectively, with a mean (±SD) follow-up of 29.6 months (±2.6). The two groups were comparable in terms of baseline features. At survival analysis, no significant difference was observed in terms of recurrence-free survival (P=0.6), metastasis-free survival (P=0.5) and overall survival (P=0.7) between robot-assisted distal ureterectomy and robot-assisted nephroureterectomy. At Cox regression analysis, type of surgery was never a significant predictor of worse oncological outcomes. At last follow-up patients undergoing robot-assisted distal ureterectomy had significantly better postoperative renal function.

CONCLUSIONS

Comparable outcomes in terms of recurrence-free survival, metastasis-free survival, and overall survival between robot-assisted distal ureterectomy and robot-assisted nephroureterectomy patients, and better postoperative renal function preservation in the former group were observed. Kidney-sparing surgery should be considered as a potential option for selected patients with high-risk distal ureteral UTUC.

Prognostic analysis of inflammatory response-related genes and biomarkers in patients with urothelial carcinoma of ureter

Ureteral urothelial carcinoma is a common urinary system tumor, accounting for 40% to 60% of all ureteral diseases. This study attempted to analyze the prognosis of patients with urothelial carcinoma, judging ureteral urothelial carcinoma by genes and biomarkers of inflammatory response. In this paper, co-expression network analysis and gene-based image fusion evaluation methods were proposed to obtain the prognosis results of patients with ureteral urothelial carcinoma. The experimental results showed that the levels of PLR and NLR increased, and the levels of HGB and HCT decreased; high PLR and high NLR levels, low HGB and low HCT levels were all risk factors affecting bladder urothelial carcinoma, and their ratios (OR) were 1.023, 1.611, 0.961, 0.859, 1.015, 1.072, 0.979, and 0.951, respectively. However, high PLR and high NLR levels were independent risk factors for bladder urothelial carcinoma, and their OR values were 1.497 and 1.071, respectively. Through biomarker diagnosis, the area under the curve, sensitivity, specificity and Youden index of hsa-mir-17, hsa-mir-93, hsa-mir-429 and hsa-mir-20a all exceeded 0.9, indicating that this is a potential diagnostic indicators. All in all, during the treatment of ureteral cancer, in order to reduce tumor recurrence, systemic therapy should be combined with ureteral cancer. In addition, this study also analyzed the prognosis of chemotherapy patients, and the results showed that immunotherapy may increase the risk of tumor cell reperfusion during chemotherapy.

Clinical features and prognostic indicators in upper-tract urothelial carcinoma with bone metastasis

Purpose

With the gradual increase in the incidence of upper-tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC), its metastatic disease has attracted much attention. The prognosis of UTUC patients with bone metastasis is worse than that of UTUC patients with other metastases. Therefore, the current study is performed to analyze the clinicopathologic features and survival predictors among UTUC patients with bone metastasis.

Patients and methods

We reviewed the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to select cases diagnosed with UTUC and bone metastasis at present from 2010 to 2016. Overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were first performed by applying univariate Cox regression analysis. Then we performed multivariate Cox analysis to determine independent predictors of survival. Forest plots were drawn by GraphPad 8.0.1 and used to visually display the results of multivariate analysis. Kaplan-Meier method was applied to intuitively show the prognosis difference of each independent risk factor.

Results

We finally identified 380 UTUC patients with bone metastasis for survival analysis, of which 230 males (60.5%) and 150 females (39.5%). The mean and median age at diagnosis were 71 and 72 years, respectively. Simultaneous lung metastasis (33.4%) and liver metastasis (31.1%) were more common in UTUC patients with bone metastasis. The 1-year OS and CSS rates of this research population were 23.8% and 26.6%, respectively. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards modeling controlling for surgery, chemotherapy, brain metastasis, liver metastasis, lung metastasis, and marital status, revealed that surgery, chemotherapy, no liver metastasis, no lung metastasis, and married status predicted for better OS and CSS.

Conclusion

Surgery and chemotherapy are optimal management of UTUC patients with bone metastasis. Active treatments on lung and liver metastases should be performed. The prognosis of patients with unmarried status or others should be further improved.

The Prognostic Impact of Tumor Location in pT3N0M0 Upper Urinary Tract Urothelial Carcinoma: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background

We aimed to evaluate the impact of tumor location on cancer outcomes in patients with pT3N0M0 upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) treated with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) with bladder cuff excision.

Materials and Methods

We retrospectively reviewed 302 patients with pT3N0M0 UTUC who underwent RNU with bladder cuff excision at our institution between 2005 and 2019, including 191 renal pelvis tumors and 111 ureteral tumors. Clinicopathologic characteristics were compared between renal pelvis and ureter urothelial carcinomas. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression was used to assess the association between outcomes and clinical factors. Outcomes of interest included intravesical recurrence-free survival (IVRFS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and cancer-specific survival (CSS), which were measured using the Kaplan-Meier curve with a log-rank test.

Results

A total of 302 patients underwent RNU with bladder cuff excision. During the median follow-up of 42.7 months, 70 (23.2%), 95 (31.5%), and 99 (32.8%) patients experienced intravesical recurrence, local recurrence, and distant metastasis, respectively. Seventy (23.2%) patients died from UTUC. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that tumor location was an independent predictor of local recurrence (HR = 2.05, p = 0.001), with borderline independent significance in intravesical recurrence (HR = 1.54, p = 0.074) and distant metastasis (HR = 1.45, p = 0.08). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that ureter tumors had a worse 5-year local recurrence (log-rank p < 0.001) and borderline worse 5-year intravesical recurrence (log-rank p = 0.055) and 5-year distant metastasis (log-rank p = 0.073).

Conclusion

Ureter tumors seem to be associated with worse oncological outcomes, especially with local recurrence in UTUC. Further large and long-term studies are warranted for investigating biological differences based on tumor location.

Robotic ureteral reimplantation: systematic review and pooled analysis of comparative outcomes in adults

INTRODUCTION

The surgical treatment of ureteral strictures in adults represents a challenging procedure for the variability of location, extension, and etiology of the disease. Open ureteral reimplantation (OUR) offered high success rates even when considering complex ureteral disease. The debate for defining the role of robotic in the treatment of adult ureteral disease is still ongoing. The aim of the current systematic review is to provide an updated analysis of the comparative outcomes of robot-assisted UR (RAUR) versus OUR based on the available literature.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

An independent systematic review of the literature was performed from 2010 to 2021. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) recommendations were followed to design search strategies, selection criteria, and evidence reports. The quality of the included studies was determined using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale for nonrandomized controlled trials. Pooled analysis of demographics and clinical characteristics, as well as surgical and postoperative outcomes, was performed.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

After an initial screening and full-text review, 5 studies published between 2002 and 2021 were identified and included in the analysis. All the studies were observational retrospective case-control studies. Among the 225 patients included in the pooled analysis, 94 (41.8%) and 131 (58.2%) were RAUR and OUR, respectively. There was no difference between groups in terms of baseline characteristics. No differences in surgical approach and operative time were reported among the groups. Estimated blood loss was lower for robotic approach (WMD: -121.71ml; p=0.0006). There were no significant differences between groups in overall (OR: 0.85; p=0.69) and major (OR:0.69; p=0.52) complication. RAUR group reported shorter length of stay (WMD: -2.39day; p<0.00001), catheter (WMD: -5.26day; p=0.004) and stent (WMD: -11.9day; p=0.001) time.

CONCLUSIONS

Available evidence shows that RAUR offers similar surgical outcomes if compared to OUR, and potential advantages in terms of lower blood loss, shorter hospital stay, catheter, and stent time. The adoption of one approach over the other is likely to be mainly dictated by the surgeon's preference and expertise.

The Impact of Primary Tumor Location on Long-Term Oncological Outcomes in Patients with Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma Treated with Radical Nephroureterectomy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) accounts for up to 10% of all urothelial neoplasms. Currently, various tumor-related factors are proposed to be of importance in UTUC prognostic models; however, the association of the primary UTUC location with oncological outcomes remains controversial. Thus, we sought to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the latest available evidence and assess the impact of primary tumor location on long-term oncological outcomes in patients with UTUC undergoing radical nephroureterectomy. Materials and Methods: A computerized systematic literature search was conducted in October 2021 through the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases. The primary endpoint was cancer-specific survival (CSS), and the secondary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Effect measures for the analyzed outcomes were reported hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Among the total number of 16,836 UTUC in 17 included studies, 10,537 (62.6%) were renal pelvic tumors (RPTs), and 6299 (37.4%) were ureteral tumors (UTs). Pooled results indicated that patients with UT had significantly worse CSS (HR: 1.37, p < 0.001), OS (HR: 1.26, p = 0.003, and DFS (HR: 1.51, p < 0.001) compared to patients with RPT. Based on performed subgroup analyses, we identified different definitions of primary tumor location and geographical region as potential sources of heterogeneity. Conclusions: Ureteral location of UTUC is associated with significantly worse long-term oncological outcomes. Our results support the need for close follow-up and the consideration of perioperative chemotherapy in patients with UTUC located in the ureter. However, further prospective studies are needed to draw final conclusions.

ROBOT-ASSISTED URETERAL REIMPLANTATION: A SINGLE CENTER COMPARATIVE STUDY

BACKGROUND

To report a single-center experience with robot-assisted ureteral reimplantation (RAUR) and to compare its outcomes with those of open ureteral reimplantation (OUR).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Patients who underwent RAUR or OUR for ureteral disease between 2016 and 2020 were identified. Data collected included baseline, pathological, perioperative and postoperative features. The RAUR outcomes were compared with those of OUR.

RESULTS

Overall, twenty-one (42.8%) patients underwent RAUR, and 28 (57.2%) underwent OUR. The two groups were similar in terms of baseline and pathological characteristics. There was a statistically significant difference in favor of RAUR for median operative time (216 vs. 317min, p=0.01) and median blood loss (35 vs. 175ml, p=0.001). No difference was observed in overall complication rate (33.3 vs. 46.4%, p=0.9), as well as major complications (Clavien-Dindo≥III grade) rate between RAUR and OUR groups. Median LOS was shorter for RAUR (2 vs. 6 days; p=0.001), as well as median catheterization time (16 vs. 28 days; p=0.005).

CONCLUSIONS

RAUR is a safe and effective minimally invasive surgical procedure for the management of mid to distal ureteral strictures. It can recapitulate the success rate of the gold standard OUR while offering a benefit in terms of lower surgical morbidity and faster postoperative recovery.