Prognostic factors in laser treatment of upper urinary tract urothelial tumours

INTRODUCTION

The standard treatment for upper urinary tract urothelial cell carcinoma (UUT-UCCs) is radical nephroureterectomy with bladder cuff excision. The endoscopic treatment was introduced with promising results in selected cases. The purpose of this study was the retrospective analysis of the factors that can influence the prognosis of the patients with UUT-UCCs who underwent endoscopic treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHOD

We identified 187 patients who where diagnosed and treated for UUT-UCCs, between 1998 - 2011, in the Urology Department of "Sf. Ioan" Clinical Emergency Hospital, Bucharest. The endoscopic treatment was used in 65 cases. The indications for endoscopic treatment were imperative (41 cases) or elective (24 cases). The retrograde approach (rigid or flexible) was used in 47 cases, while the anterograde approach was preferred in 18 cases. Tumor ablation was performed using electroresection or Nd:YAG laser. The mean follow-up period was 60 months (range between 6 and 120 months). The follow-up protocol included computed tomography or intravenous urography, urinary cytology (selected cases), cystoscopy and ureteroscopy. The recurrence rates were reviewed by retrospective analysis.

RESULTS

During follow-up 31 patients (47.6%) presented upper urinary tract recurrence. In 20 cases (30.7%) bladder recurrence was present. The median time from diagnosis to first recurrence was of 12.6 months. 18 patients (27.69%) underwent subsequent nephroureterectomy. The survival rates without recurrence at 1, 3 and 5 years were 61% (40 patients), 55.3% (36 patients) and 52.3% (34 patients). The most significant prognostic factors were: history of bladder tumour, tumour location and size, tumour stage and grade. The recurrence rate for pyelocaliceal tumours was 53.84% (21 out of 39 cases) and only 45.45% (10 out of 26 cases) for ureteral tumours. The recurrence rate for low-grade tumours was 36,36% (16 out of 44 cases) and 71.42% (15 out of 21 cases) for high-grade tumours. The tumours over 1.5 cm were associated with a higher recurrence rate compared with tumours below 1.5 cm (64.2 versus 43.13%).

CONCLUSIONS

Endoscopic management of UUT-UCCs offers the advantage of preserving of renal function. Laser treatment of malignant urothelial lesions in the upper urinary tract should be reserved for a selected patient. The most important prognostic factors for UUT-UCCs evolution are tumours location, size and mostly tumour grade. The patients' compliance is very important for detecting recurrences.

Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification System (POP-Q) - a new era in pelvic prolapse staging

The prolapse of one or several pelvic organs is a condition that has been known by medicine since its early days, and different therapeutic approaches have been proposed and accepted. But one of the main problems concerning the prolapse of pelvic organs is the need for a universal, clear and reliable staging method.Because the prolapse has been known and recognized as a disease for more than one hundred years, so are different systems proposed for its staging. But none has proved itself to respond to all the requirements of the medical community, so the vast majority were seen coming and going, failing to become the single most useful system for staging in pelvic organ prolapse (POP).The latest addition to the group of staging systems is the POP-Q system, which is becoming increasingly popular with specialists all over the world, because, although is not very simple as a concept, it helps defining the features of a prolapse at a level of completeness not reached by any other system to date. In this vision, the POP-Q system may reach the importance and recognition of the TNM system use in oncology.This paper briefly describes the POP-Q system, by comparison with other staging systems, analyzing its main features and the concept behind it.

TURP for BPH. How large is too large?

BPH remains one of the most common diseases that the urologist has to manage. The last decade brought numerous new techniques, aiming to improve the minimally invasive approach to BPH, but, for the moment, none had changed the place of TURP as the gold standard treatment for medium sized prostates. Based on a large personal experience, the authors present a study in which TURP is used for prostates over 80 ml, the cutoff point set by the guidelines of the European Association of Urology. The rationale for this study is that many situations require minimally invasive treatment, based on the express request of the patient, other conditions that makes open surgery very difficult or impossible, or the need for a quick discharge in an overcrowded service. The aim of the study was to prove that TURP is safe and effective even in larger prostates. The technique used is basically the classic one, with minor tactical alterations in some cases. Some cases required a two-stage approach, but offered good functional results after the first stage. The results proved that, with a good technique, a skilled urologist might achieve the same results by using TURP or open surgery for large sized prostates.

From interstitial cystitis to chronic pelvic pain

There are still many things to be found out about interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS) because the pathological processes underlying the condition are not yet elucidated, biological markers of the condition are not yet available, and the type and severity of symptoms can vary, so, clearly defining the condition is not yet possible. For example, it is not clearly understood whether IC/PBS represents a systemic disease, if it is localized in the bladder, or if it was initially localized in the bladder and it later evolved into a systemic disease. This condition is best managed by using a multidisciplinary approach. Management requires a good integration and knowledge of all pelvic organ systems and other systems including musculoskeletal, neurologic, and psychiatric systems.

Diagnosis and treatment of erectile dysfunction--a practical update

During the last decades, erectile dysfunction was considered a direct consequence of aging and, although of a great concern for the affected patient, little was available to evaluate and treat this problem. If aging could not be invoked in all cases, than the psychogenic etiology was the only explanation. Over the coming years, a better understanding of the physiology involved in the penile process of tumescence and detumescence has allowed for better approach of each disease asociated with erectile dysfunction so that adequate treatment modalities can be applied to the pacient. As we all know, every pacient is a particular case. The development of modern PDE-5 inhibiters, along with other more or less invasive therapies, puts a new light on the medical approach of ED.

Urological management of the patient with traumatic spinal cord injury

Traumatic spinal cord injury is a very comprehensive subject, debated in many scientific papers. It interests various medical specialties, but also other sciences, like economy, psychology or social science. The patient having a motoric disability, with sphincter troubles and other associated pathologies secondary to a traumatic lesion of the spinal cord, represented a social problem from the antiquity. The first centers dedicated exclusively to these patients were established during Napoleon. Nevertheless, a systematic approach to these patients was not possible before the end of the Second World War, when scientific and economic development made possible the establishment of medical facilities specialized in the complex evaluation and treatment of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Between the two world wars, physicians were concentrating their efforts to keep these patients alive, considering that the main target was to treat or prevent complications which could be fatal to the patient. The first scientific papers underlining the essential place of lower urinary tract disorders in the vital prognostic of the SCI patient are dating back to this time. In modern times, the target for every patient with SCI should be social reinsertion and obtaining as much autonomy as possible. The physician needs to tune up his treatment according to this factor. The continuous evolution of medicine, alongside with technical progress and the development of modern social security have created the premises for a real quality of life of the paraplegic or even quadriplegic patient. The lower urinary tract becomes not only a key for prolonged survival, but also one of the most important elements for social reinsertion.