Influence of tumor size on oncological outcomes of pathological T3aN0M0 renal cell carcinoma treated by radical nephrectomy

Mortality Increases When Radical Nephrectomy is Delayed More Than 60 Days for T3 Renal Cell Carcinoma

Background: Radical nephrectomy is widely accepted as the default management option for patients with T3 renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, it may require a certain time before surgery for various reasons. There are concerns that the delay in surgery may affect postoperative outcomes. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of surgical wait time on survival in patients with T3 RCC. Methods: We retrospectively selected 138 patients with T3 RCC who underwent radical surgery between July 2009 and December 2019. Surgical wait time was defined as the period from initial imaging diagnosis to surgery. Patients were divided into the following 2 groups according to wait time: short-wait group(≤60 days), and long-wait group (>60 days). The clinical and pathological characteristics were evaluated. The overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) of each group were calculated and compared. Age, gender, interval, tumor size, pathological grade, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS), surgical approach, year of surgery, and pathological type were included in the multivariable model. Results: This study included 91 male (65.9%) and 47 female (34.1%) patients. The median age of all patients was 60 years (interquartile range [IQR] 52-68 years). The median body mass index is 22.2 kg/m² (IQR 18.9-24.7  kg/m²). There were 128 patients (92.8%) with pT3a disease and 10 patients (7.3%) with pT3b disease. The median surgical wait time for all patients was 16 days (IQR 10-77 days). The median surgical wait time of the short- and long-wait groups was 12 days (IQR 8-16 days) and 92 days (IQR 79-115 days), respectively. Until the last follow-up, 54 patients died. Among them, 49 patients (90.7%) died of tumor-related causes, and 5 patients (9.3%) died of other causes. There are 1 and 4 cases in the short-wait and long-wait groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in gender, ECOG PS, American society of anesthesiologists score, Charlson comorbidity index, clinical T stage, clinical N stage, and body mass index. And there were no significant differences in tumor size, surgical approach, year of surgery, pathological type, tumor grade, pathological T stage, pathological N stage, and venous involvement between the 2 groups. OS, CSS, and RFS were compared. The 5-year OS of the short- and long-wait time groups were 65.0% and 40.9%, respectively (P = .030). The 5-year CSS rates of the short- and long-wait time groups were 68.7% and 51.5%, respectively (P = .012). The 5-year RFS rates of the short- and long-wait time groups were 61.5% and 46.8%, respectively (P = .119). Multivariable analysis revealed that surgical wait time interval and tumor size were independent risk factors for OS and that wait time was also an independent risk factor for CCS. Conclusion: Delay in radical surgery beyond 60 days can negatively affect OS in patients with T3 RCC.

Oncological Outcomes of Patients With Different Pathological Features of pT3a Renal Tumor: A Systematic Review and Quantitative Synthesis

Purpose

To identify the differences in oncological outcomes for patients with different pT3a renal tumor invasion patterns and pathological features.

Methods

The protocol of this study was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021234475). Relevant studies were identified by searching the PubMed, Cochrane library, Embase, and Web of Science databases. Cancer-specific survival (CSS) was selected as the endpoint. Pooled hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) extracted from multivariate Cox models were evaluated to identify the hazard association.

Results

A total of 22 studies, which enrolled 12384 patients were included for quantitative synthesis. Sinus fat invasion (SFI) + perinephric fat invasion (PFI) was associated with inferior CSS compared to SFI only (p = 0.02). Comparable CSS was observed between SFI and PFI (p = 0.57). SFI ± PFI showed inferior CSS compared to PFI only (p = 0.0002). The presence of pelvicalyceal system invasion significantly increased the risk of cancer-specific mortality (p = 0.0005). Renal vein invasion (RVI) indicated poor oncological outcomes in terms of CSS (p = 0.002). The concomitant RVI and fat invasion (FI) significantly increased the risk of deterioration of CSS compared to RVI or FI (p < 0.0001). Multiple invasion patterns translated into a significantly decreased CSS (p < 0.0001). Aggressive tumor behavior, including lymph node involvement (p = 0.006), distant metastases (p < 0.00001), sarcomatoid differentiation (p < 0.0001), necrosis (p < 0.0001), Fuhrman grade III or IV (p < 0.0001), positive margin (p < 0.0001), and tumor size >7cm (p < 0.0001) were the predictors of inferior CSS. The lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.67) was indolent in terms of CSS.

Conclusion

This study confirmed the heterogenicity of pT3a renal tumors. Multiple invasion patterns could translate into a significantly decreased CSS, and SFI should not be merged in the SFI + PFI group. The presence of PSI or RVI could significantly increase the risk of cancer-specific mortality. Lymph node involvement, distant metastases, sarcomatoid differentiation, necrosis, high Fuhrman grade, positive margin, and size >7cm were the predictors of inferior CSS. A precise-risk grade of CSS for different invasion patterns including comprehensive combinations may be useful for the further refinements of the TNM system.

Systematic Review Registration

The current study was registered on PROSPERO, and the registration numbers is CRD42021234475.

Development and internal validation of nomograms for the prediction of postoperative survival of patients with grade 4 renal cell carcinoma (RCC)

Background

To develop successful prognostic models for grade 4 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) following partial nephrectomy and radical nephrectomy.

Methods

The nomograms were established based on a retrospective study of 135 patients who underwent partial and radical nephrectomy for grade 4 RCC at the Department of Urology, Peking University First Hospital from January 2013 to October 2018. The predictive performance of the nomograms was assessed by the calibration plot and C-index. The results were validated using bootstrap resampling.

Results

Aspartate transaminase (AST), the maximum diameter of tumor (cutoff value =7 cm), lymph node metastasis, and the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) risk group were independent factors for determining the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in multivariate analysis. AST, the maximum diameter of the tumor (cutoff value =7 cm), and lymph node metastasis were found to be independent variables for progression-free survival (PFS) in multivariate analysis. These variables were used for the studies to establish nomograms. All calibration plots revealed excellent predictive accuracy of the models. The C-indexes of the nomograms for predicting OS, CSS and PFS were 0.729 (95% CI, 0.659-0.799), 0.725 (95% CI, 0.654-0.796) and 0.702 (95% CI, 0.626-0.778), respectively. Moreover, the recurrence rate was not associated with open or laparoscopic radical nephrectomy in our cohort (P=0.126).

Conclusions

We have developed easy-to-use models that are internally validated to predict postoperative 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS, CSS, and PFS rates of grade 4 RCC patients. The new models could aid in identifying high-risk patients, making postoperative therapeutic and follow-up strategies as well as predicting patients' survival after externally validated. Besides, our study shows that the recurrence rate is not associated with open or laparoscopic radical nephrectomy.

Comparison of T2N0M0 and T3aN0M0 in Predicting the Prognosis of Patients With Renal Cell Carcinoma

Background: To investigate the prognostic role of tumor size in patients with pathological T2N0M0 and T3aN0M0 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) treated by radical surgery. Methods: A total of 3,662 cases were retrospectively analyzed from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) from 2010 to 2012. Overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) data were obtained. The log-rank test was used to compare survival distributions and Cox proportional hazards model was used for univariate and multivariate analyses, respectively. Results: In the low-risk T3aN0M0 (perinephric fatty infiltration or sinus fatty infiltration only) group, patients with tumor size ≤ 7 cm were associated with a better OS (P = 0.009) and CSS (P < 0.001) than those with tumor size >7 cm. However, there was no difference in OS (P = 0.129) and CSS (P = 0.539) between T2bN0M0 patients and low-risk T3aN0M0 patients with tumor size ≤ 7 cm. A new T classification grouping patients with both T2bN0M0 and T3aN0M0 with tumor diameter ≤ 7 cm into the same staging category (pT2aN0M0, pT2bN0M0+low-risk pT3aN0M0 [tumor diameter ≤ 7cm], low-risk pT3aN0M0 [tumor diameter >7 cm], high-risk pT3aN0M0) was proposed and it was found as an independent predictive variable for OS and CSS. Conclusions: Findings from the present study suggest that the reclassification of pT2N0M0 and pT3aN0M0 RCC can lead to better prediction of OS and CSS.

Clinical Significance of Tumor Size, Pathological Invasion Sites Including Urinary Collecting System and Clinically Detected Renal Vein Thrombus as Predictors for Recurrence in pT3a Localized Renal Cell Carcinoma

The recent eighth tumor-node-metastasis (TMN) staging system classifies renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with perirenal fat invasion (PFI), renal sinus fat invasion (SFI), or renal vein invasion (RVI) as stage pT3a. However, limited data are available on whether these sites have similar prognostic value or recurrence rate. We investigated the recurrence rate based on tumor size, pathological invasion sites including urinary collecting system invasion (UCSI), and clinically detected renal vein thrombus (cd-RVT) with pT3aN0M0 RCC. We retrospectively reviewed 91 patients with pT3aN0M0 RCC who underwent surgical treatment. Patients with tumor size > 7 cm, UCSI, three invasive sites (PFI + SFI + RVI), and cd-RVT showed a significant correlation with high recurrence rates (hazard ration (HR) 2.98, p = 0.013; HR 8.86, p < 0.0001; HR 14.28, p = 0.0008; and HR 4.08, p = 0.0074, respectively). In the multivariate analysis, tumor size of >7 cm, the presence of UCSI, and cd-RVT were the independent predictors of recurrence (HR 3.39, p = 0.043, HR 7.31, p = 0.01, HR 5.06, p = 0.018, respectively). In pT3a RCC, tumor size (7 cm cut-off), UCSI, and cd-RVT may help to provide an early diagnosis of recurrence.

Surgical complexity and prognostic outcome of small volume renal cell carcinoma with high-level venous tumor thrombus and large volume renal cell carcinoma with low-level thrombus

Background:

Radical nephrectomy with thrombectomy is one of the most difficult and complicated urological operations. But the roles of renal tumor volume and thrombus level in surgical complexity and prognostic outcome are not clear. This study aimed to evaluate the surgical complexity and prognostic outcome between the volume of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and the level of venous tumor thrombus.

Methods:

The clinical data of 67 RCC cases with renal vein or inferior vena cava (IVC) tumor thrombus from January 2015 to May 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. Among these 67 cases, 21 (31.3%) were small tumors with high-level thrombus (tumor ≤7 cm in diameter and thrombus Neves Level II–IV), while 46 (68.7%) were large tumors with low-level thrombus group (tumor >7 cm in diameter and thrombus Level 0–I). Clinical features, operation details, and pathology data were collected. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were applied to evaluate the risk factors for small tumor with high-level thrombus.

Results:

Patients with small tumors and high-level thrombus were more likely to have longer operative time (421.9 ± 135.1 min vs. 282.2 ± 101.9 min, t = 4.685, P < 0.001), more surgical bleeding volume (1200 [325, 2900] mL vs. 500 [180, 1000] mL, U = 270.000, P = 0.004), more surgical blood transfusion volume (800 [0, 1400] mL vs. 0 [0, 800] mL, U = 287.500, P = 0.004), more plasma transfusion volume (0 [0, 800] mL vs. 0 [0, 0] mL, U = 319.000, P = 0.004), higher percentage of open operative approach (76.2% vs. 32.6%, χ² = 11.015, P = 0.001), higher percentage of IVC resection (33.3% vs. 0%, χ² = 17.122, P < 0.001), and higher percentage of post-operative complications (52.4% vs. 19.6%, χ² = 7.415, P = 0.010) than patients with large tumors and low-level thrombus. In multivariate analysis, decreased hemoglobin (Hb) (odds ratio [OR]: 0.956, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.926–0.986, P = 0.005) and non-sarcomatoid differentiation (OR: 0.050, 95% CI: 0.004–0.664, P = 0.023) were more likely to form small tumors with high-level tumor thrombus rather than large tumor with small tumor thrombus. The estimated mean cancer-specific survival times of small tumor with high-level thrombus and large tumor with low-level thrombus were 31.6 ± 3.8 months and 32.5 ± 2.9 months, without statistical significance (P = 0.955). After univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard survival regression analyses, only distant metastasis (hazard ratio [HR]: 3.839, P = 0.002), sarcomatoid differentiation (HR: 7.923, P < 0.001), alkaline phosphatase (HR: 2.661, P = 0.025), and severe post-operative complications (HR: 10.326, P = 0.001) were independent predictors of prognosis.

Conclusions:

The level of the tumor thrombus was more important than the diameter of the primary kidney tumor in affecting the complexity of surgery. In the same T3 stage, neither the renal tumor diameter nor the tumor thrombus level was an independent risk factor for prognosis.

Impact of tumor size on patient survival after radical nephrectomy for pathological T3a renal cell carcinoma

PURPOSE

We recently reported the results from a multi-institutional retrospective outcome study involving 814 patients with renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) who had undergone radical surgery and whose diagnoses were confirmed via a central pathological review. This study aimed to clarify the impact of tumor size on survival outcomes in patients with pT3aN0M0 RCC after radical nephrectomy using this cohort.

METHODS

Using the Kaplan-Meier method, overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) were estimated for 103 pT3aN0M0 patients. The differences in the OS, CSS and RFS according to tumor size were evaluated using the log-rank test. To identify independent prognostic factors that affected each survival outcome, clinicopathological factors were examined using univariate and multivariate analyses, and the Cox proportional hazards model.

RESULTS

The OS, CSS and RFS rates for 26 patients with pT3a RCCs ≤4 cm were significantly better than those for 77 patients with pT3a RCCs that were 4-7 cm or >7 cm (P = 0.0064, 0.0169 and 0.0001, respectively). Tumor size and venous invasion were independent prognosticators for OS, CSS and RFS. The OS and CSS for patients with pT3a tumors ≤4 cm were comparable with those for patients with pT1 RCCs, and the RFS for patients with pT3a RCCs ≤4 cm was similar to that for patients with pT1b RCCs.

CONCLUSIONS

Tumor size significantly influenced the prognosis for patients with pT3aN0M0 RCC. This study's results suggest that the postoperative management of pT3a RCCs could be individualized according to tumor size.

Nonenhancing Component of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma on Computed Tomography Correlates With Tumor Necrosis and Stage and Serves as a Size-Independent Prognostic Biomarker

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to quantify nonenhancing tumor (NT) component in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and assess its association with histologically defined tumor necrosis, stage, and survival outcomes.

METHODS

Among 183 patients with ccRCC, multi-institutional changes in computed tomography attenuation of tumor voxels were used to quantify percent of NT. Associations of NT with histologic tumor necrosis and tumor stage/grade were tested using Wilcoxon signed rank test and with survival outcomes using Kaplan-Meier curves/Cox regression analysis.

RESULTS

Nonenhancing tumor was higher in ccRCC with tumor necrosis (11% vs 7%; P = 0.040) and higher pathological stage (P = 0.042 and P < 0.001, respectively). Patients with greater NT had higher incidence of cancer recurrence after resection (P < 0.001) and cancer-specific mortality (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Nonenhancing tumor on preoperative computed tomographic scans in patients with ccRCC correlates with tumor necrosis and stage and may serve as an independent imaging prognostic biomarker for cancer recurrence and cancer-specific survival.

Discovery of lipid biomarkers correlated with disease progression in clear cell renal cell carcinoma using desorption electrospray ionization imaging mass spectrometry

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) often results in recurrence or metastasis, and there are only a few clinically effective biomarkers for early diagnosis and personalized therapy. Metabolic changes have been widely studied using mass spectrometry (MS) of tissue lysates to identify novel biomarkers. Our objective was to identify lipid biomarkers that can predict disease progression in ccRCC by a tissue-based approach. We retrospectively investigated lipid molecules in cancerous tissues and normal renal cortex tissues obtained from patients with ccRCC (n = 47) using desorption electrospray ionization imaging mass spectrometry (DESI-IMS). We selected eight candidate lipid biomarkers showing higher signal intensity in cancerous than in normal tissues, with a clear distinction of the tissue type based on the images. Of these candidates, low maximum intensity ratio (cancerous/normal) values of ions of oleic acid, m/z 389.2, and 391.3 significantly correlated with shorter progression-free survival compared with high maximum intensity ratio values (P = 0.011, P = 0.022, and P < 0.001, respectively). This study identified novel lipid molecules contributing to the prediction of disease progression in ccRCC using DESI-IMS. Our findings on lipid storage may provide a new diagnostic or therapeutic strategy for targeting cancer cell metabolism.

Influence of venous tumour extension on local and remote recurrence of stage pT3a pN0 cM0 kidney tumours

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE

One of the inherent features of kidney tumours is the capacity to spread inside the venous system as tumour thrombi. The aim of this study was to assess in patients with stage pT3apN0cM0 kidney cancer whether venous tumour involvement influenced tumour recurrence.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective analysis of patients with stage pT3apN0cM0 kidney cancer treated with radical nephrectomy between 1990-2015. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis to identify predictive variables and independent predictive variables relating to recurrence.

RESULTS

The results of 153 patients were studied. The median follow-up was 82 (IQR 36-117) months. Recurrence-free survival at 5 years was 58.9% with a median of 97 (95% CI 49.9-144.1) months. Seventy-seven (50.3%) patients recurred. Seventy cases 70 (90.9%) had distant metastases, 17 (14.2%) of these patients had local recurrence in the bed of nephrectomy. Tumour necrosis (p=.0001), and microvascular invasion (p=.001) were identified as independent predictors of tumour recurrence in the multivariable analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

In our series, after multivariable analysis, venous tumour extension was not related to recurrence. Tumour necrosis and microvascular infiltration did behave as independent predictive factors of tumour recurrence.

Evaluation of pancreatic tumor development in KPC mice using multi-parametric MRI

Background

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a fatal disease with very poor prognosis. Development of sensitive and noninvasive methods to monitor tumor progression in PDA is a critical and unmet need. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can noninvasively provide information regarding underlying pathophysiological processes such as necrosis, inflammatory changes and fibrotic tissue deposition.

Methods

A genetically engineered KPC mouse model that recapitulates human PDA was used to characterize disease progression. MR measures of T₁ and T₂ relaxation times, magnetization transfer ratio (MTR), diffusion and chemical exchange saturation transfer were compared in two separate phases i.e. slow and rapid growth phase of tumor. Fibrotic tissue accumulation was assessed histologically using Masson’s trichrome staining. Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was computed to assess the relationship between the fibrotic tissue accumulation and different MR parameters.

Results

There was a negative correlation between amide proton transfer signal intensity and tumor volume (r = − 0.63, p = 0.003) in the slow growth phase of the tumor development. In the terminal stage of rapid growth phase of the tumor development MTR was strongly correlated with tumor volume (r = 0.62, p = 0.008). Finally, MTR was significantly correlated with % fibrosis (r = 0.87; p < 0.01), followed by moderate correlation between tumor volume (r = 0.42); T₁ (r = − 0.61), T₂ (r = − 0.61) and accumulation of fibrotic tissue.

Conclusions

Here we demonstrated, using multi-parametric MRI (mp-MRI), that MRI parameters changed with tumor progression in a mouse model of PDA. Use of mp-MRI may have the potential to monitor the dynamic changes of tumor microenvironment with increase in tumor size in the transgenic KPC mouse model of pancreatic tumor.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s40644-018-0172-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Accurate Risk Assessment of Patients with Pathologic T3aN0M0 Renal Cell Carcinoma

To develop a more precise risk-stratification system by investigating the prognostic impact of tumor growth within fatty tissues surrounding the kidney and/or renal vein. We conducted a retrospective review of the medical records of 211 patients with a pathologic diagnosis of T3aN0M0RCC among 4,483 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients from February 1988 to December 2015 according to the number of T3a pathologies—extrarenal fat invasion (EFI) and/or renal venous invasion (RVI). During a mean follow-up duration of 38.8 months, the patients with both pathologies (EFI + RVI) had lower recurrence free survival (RFS) rate than those with only a single pathology (p = 0.001). Using multivariable Cox regression analysis, the presence of both factors was shown to be an independent predictor of RFS (HR = 1.964, p = 0.032); cancer specific survival rate was not different among patients with EFI and/or RVI. Patients with pathologic T3aN0M0 RCC presenting with both EFI and RVI were at an increased risk of recurrence following nephrectomy. Therefore, pathologic T3a RCC could be sub-divided into those with favorable and unfavorable disease according to presence of EFI and/or RVI pathologies.

Tumor necrosis as a prognostic variable for the clinical outcome in patients with renal cell carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Tumor necrosis (TN) correlates with adverse outcomes in numerous solid tumors. However, its prognostic value in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains unclear. In this study, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate associations between TN and cancer-specific survival (CSS), overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and progression-free-survival (PFS) in RCC.

Methods

Electronic searches in PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science were conducted according to the PRISMA statement. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to evaluate relationships between TN and RCC. A fixed- or random-effects model was used to calculate pooled HRs and 95%CIs according to heterogeneity.

Results

A total of 34 cohort studies met the eligibility criteria of this meta-analysis. The results showed that TN was significantly predictive of poorer CSS (HR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.23–1.53, p < 0.001), OS (HR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.20–1.40, p < 0.001), RFS (HR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.39–1.72, p < 0.001) and PFS (HR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.17–1.46, p < 0.001) in patients with RCC. All the findings were robust when stratified by geographical region, pathological type, staging system, number of patients, and median follow-up.

Conclusions

The present study suggests that TN is associated with CSS, OS, RFS and PFS clinical outcomes of RCC patients and may serve as a predictor of poor prognosis in these patients.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-4773-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.