Single- versus multi-port robotic partial nephrectomy: a comparative analysis of perioperative outcomes and analgesic requirements.

Evidence supporting the safe use of the single-port (SP) robot for partial nephrectomy is scarce. The purpose of this study was to compare perioperative outcomes for patients undergoing robotic assisted SP vs multi-port (MP) partial nephrectomy (PN) in a time-matched cohort. All patients with clinically localized renal masses who underwent robotic PN from January 2019 to March 2020 were evaluated. Patients were stratified according to SP vs MP approach. Postoperative analgesia was administered in accordance with department-wide opioid stewardship protocol and outpatient opioid use was tracked. Total of 78 patients underwent robotic PN with 26 patients in the SP cohort. The majority of renal masses had low-complexity (53, 67.9%) R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry scores, without a significant difference between the two cohorts (p = 0.19). A retroperitoneal approach was performed in 16 (20.5%) patients overall, though more commonly via the SP robotic approach (13 vs 3, p < 0.001). Mean operative time for SP cases was 183.9 ± 63.5 min vs 208.6 ± 65.0 min in the MP cohort (p = 0.12). Rate of conversion to radical nephrectomy was 3.8% vs 9.6% for SP vs MP cases, respectively, (p = 0.37). The majority of patients were discharged on postoperative day one (67.9%) irrespective of operative approach (p = 0.60). There were no differences in inpatient milligram morphine equivalents administered (MME, p = 0.08) or outpatient postoperative MME prescribed (p = 0.21) between the two cohorts. In this retrospective single-institution study, SP robotic approach offers similar short-term perioperative outcomes to MP platforms for minimally invasive, nephron-sparing surgery. Using the SP system was not associated with a reduction in postoperative opioid analgesic requirements.

Differential effect of body mass index by gender on oncological outcomes in patients with renal cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationship between gender, body mass index (BMI), and prognosis in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 1353 patients with RCC who underwent a partial or radical nephrectomy between 1988 and 2015. The association among sex, BMI, stage, grade, overall survival (OS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) was analyzed. RESULTS: The median age of the patients was 59.4 ± 11.9 years. Female patients had proportionally lower grade tumors than male patients (Grade I-II in 75.5% vs. 69.3% in women and men, respectively, P = 0.022). There was no relationship between Fuhrman grade and BMI when substratified by gender (p > 0.05). There was a nonsignificant trend toward more localized disease in female patients (p = 0.058). There was no relationship between T stage and BMI when stratified by gender (p > 0.05). Patients with higher BMI had significantly better OS (p = 0.0004 and P = 0.0003) and RFS (P = 0.0209 and P =0.0082) whether broken out by lower 33rd or 25th percentile. Male patients with higher BMI had significantly better OS and RFS rates. However, there was no relationship between BMI and OS or RFS for female patients (P > 0.05). Multivariate analysis of the entire cohort demonstrated that a BMI in the lower quartile independently predicts OS (hazard ratio 1.604 [95% confidence interval: 1.07-2.408], P = 0.022) but not RFS (P > 0.05). When stratified by gender, there was no relationship between BMI and either OS or RFS (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Increasing BMI was associated with RCC prognosis. However, the clinical association between BMI and oncologic outcomes may be different between men and women.

Pediatric female genital trauma managed under conscious sedation in the emergency department versus general anesthesia in the operating room- a single center comparison of outcomes and cost.

INTRODUCTION: Pediatric female genital trauma (PFGT) comprises injuries to the female external and internal genitalia. Examination under general anesthesia (GA) in the operating room (OR) is traditionally recommended, however repair at the bedside under conscious sedation (CS) in the emergency department (ED) may be a safe alternative. The Genitourinary Injury Score (GIS) objectively classifies PFGT severity, but designates all vaginal and urethral injuries as Grade III. OBJECTIVE: To compare outcomes and cost of patients with PFGT managed under CS in the ED vs GA in the OR. STUDY DESIGN: All patients treated by a pediatric urologist from May 2009 to September 2019 with associated ICD codes for PFGT were included. Exclusion criteria included PFGT from sexual abuse or obstetric related complications. Clinical and demographic data was extracted from the EMR. A cost analysis comparing ED vs OR management was performed. RESULTS: 33 patients were identified with a median age of 6.8 years. The primary etiology was straddle trauma. Injuries were predominately GIS I-III (30, 91%) with possible urethral involvement in 6 patients. Sedation and repair in the ED was performed for 12 (36%) patients vs 21 (64%) taken to the OR. For the OR cohort, 15 (71%) were taken to the OR immediately and 6 (29%) initially underwent CS but this was aborted due to injury complexity. Aborting CS and proceeding to the OR did not result in compromised outcome or prolonged hospitalization. No patients in the ED cohort required post-procedural admission whereas all patients taken to the OR were admitted postoperatively. Cost of care for ED repair was less than two-thirds (60%) that of surgical repair in the OR. Using Onen GIS III or less without deep vaginal and/or urethral involvement as a cutoff for attempted bedside repair vs proceeding directly to the OR could have spared 7 (47%) patients GA and subsequent admission. A female-specific modification to the Onen GIS III criteria is proposed in light of these findings. DISCUSSION: The present study suggests CS and bedside repair of low-grade PFGTs is safe with a cost benefit. This is reflected by a proposed modification to the Onen GIS III criteria. These findings should be interpreted with caution given the retrospective nature of this single institution, small cohort study. CONCLUSION: CS and bedside repair of low-grade PFGT appears to be safe and cost effective. Delineating GIS III injuries according to urethra and/or deep vaginal involvement may improve the GIS scale's clinical utility.

Obesity is Associated with Longer Survival Independent of Sarcopenia and Myosteatosis in Metastatic and/or Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer.

PURPOSE: Obesity (body mass index 30 kg/m2 or greater) is associated with better overall survival in metastatic prostate cancer. Conversely, low muscle mass (sarcopenia) and low muscle radiodensity (myosteatosis) are associated with worse overall survival in many cancers. This study seeks to evaluate the relationship of sarcopenia, myosteatosis and obesity with overall survival in men with metastatic or castrate-resistant prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis of men with metastatic or castrate-resistant prostate cancer and computerized tomography of abdomen/pelvis presenting to the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Clinic from 2012 to 2017 was performed. Demographic, pathological and survival data were described, with sarcopenia and myosteatosis determined from abdominal skeletal muscle area and skeletal muscle radiodensity, respectively. Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests estimated the effect of body composition on survival. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were performed adjusting for age, Charlson comorbidity index, race and clinical stage. ANOVA was used to compare obese and nonobese men with and without sarcopenia or myosteatosis. RESULTS: Of 182 men accrued, 37.4% were obese, 53.3% sarcopenic and 59.3% myosteatotic. Over a median followup of 33.9 months, body mass index was associated with reduced mortality (HR 0.93, p=0.02), as was visceral adiposity (HR 0.99, p=0.003). Men with high body mass index without sarcopenia/myosteatosis lived significantly longer than men with high body mass index with sarcopenia/myosteatosis or normal body mass index men (F[3,91]=4.03, p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Both high body mass index and visceral adiposity in metastatic or castrate-resistant prostate cancer are associated with reduced mortality, independent of sarcopenia and myosteatosis. Therefore, routine clinical workup should include calculation of body mass index and measurement of waist circumference. Morphometric analysis of computerized tomography imaging can identify patients at risk for poor prognosis.

Evaluation of MSKCC Preprostatectomy nomogram in men who undergo MRI-targeted prostate biopsy prior to radical prostatectomy.

INTRODUCTION: The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) Preprostatectomy nomogram is a widely used resource that integrates clinical factors to predict the likelihood of adverse pathology at radical prostatectomy. Adoption of magnetic resonance imaging targeted biopsy (TB) permits optimized detection of clinically-significant cancer over systematic biopsy (SB) alone. We aim to evaluate the prognostic utility of the MSKCC Preprostatectomy nomogram with TB pathology results. METHODS: Men who underwent SB and magnetic resonance imaging TB who later underwent radical prostatectomy at our institution were included. Patient information was entered into the MSKCC Preprostatectomy nomogram using 5 biopsy reporting schemes with TB reported by both individual core (IC) and aggregate group (AG) methods. The likelihood of extraprostatic extension, seminal vesicle invasion, and lymph node involvement as predicted by the nomogram for each biopsy reporting schema were compared to radical prostatectomy pathology. RESULTS: We identified 63 men from January 2014 to November 2017. On receiver operating characteristic analysis, IC-TB, AG-TB, SB plus IC-TB, and SB plus AG-TB exhibited similar, if not improved, area under the curve compared to SB alone in predicting extraprostatic extension (0.671, 0.674, 0.658, and 0.6613 vs. 0.6085). This was similarly observed for seminal vesicle invasion prediction using SB plus IC-TB compared to SB alone (0.727 vs. 0.733). For lymph node involvement, superior but nonsignificant area under the curve was observed for AG-TB (0.647) compared to IC-TB (0.571) and SB alone (0.524) CONCLUSIONS: Using TB pathology results either alone or combined with SB pathology results as input to the MSKCC Preprostatectomy nomogram appears comparable for prognosticating adverse pathology on radical prostatectomy compared to SB alone, but robust validation is warranted prior to adoption into clinical practice.

Comparison of biparametric MRI to full multiparametric MRI for detection of clinically significant prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MP-MRI) and MRI/ultrasound (US) fusion-guided biopsy are becoming more widely used techniques for prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis and management. However, their widespread adoption and use, where available, are limited by cost and added time. These limitations could be minimized if a biparametric MRI (BP-MRI) focusing on T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging is performed. Herein we report the cancer detection rate of BP-MRI compared with full MP-MRI. METHODS: Biopsy-naive and prior negative biopsy patients with clinical suspicion for PCa underwent MP-MRI with an imaging protocol incorporating narrow field-of-view T2-weighted, diffusion-weighted, and DCE pelvic MRI. Then patients underwent MRI/US fusion-guided biopsy of target lesions between November 2013 and October 2017. The pathology results were compared to the positivity of the DCE sequence compared to the BP-MRI findings alone. RESULTS: There were 648 targeted lesions biopsied in 344 patients. We defined biparametric screen filter positivity as both T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging positivity for the same lesion. The majority of target lesions (552/648, 85%) were screen filter positive. For those that were screen filter negative, a minority (14/96, 15%) had DCE-positive findings. Of these, 2/3 (67%) cancer-positive cases were seen on T2-weighted imaging. For those 82 that were screen filter negative and DCE negative, the DCE phase would not have added imaging suspicion. Only 3/82 (3.7%) were cancer positive; 2 with low risk, grade group 1 cancer and 1 with intraductal carcinoma, all identified on targeted T2-weighted MRI positivity. CONCLUSIONS: BP-MRI for the evaluation of PCa and for guiding MRI/US fusion-targeted biopsy has the advantages of reducing cost, time, and contrast exposure of MP-MRI by eliminating the DCE phase. These benefits are realized without forfeiting valuable diagnostic information, as shown by similar cancer detection rates of BP-MRI and MP-MRI in this study, particularly for clinically significant cases of PCa.

Fluciclovine positron emission tomography in the setting of biochemical recurrence following local therapy of prostate cancer.

Approximately one in five men will demonstrate biochemical recurrence (BCR) following local therapy for prostate cancer (PCa). Advanced imaging modalities including positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of various radiotracers have become more commonplace to visualize foci of disease recurrence. We performed a systematic review of the literature to describe current evidence in support of 18F-fluciclovine (Axumin) PET imaging in this clinical setting. An English literature search was conducted on PubMed/Medline for original investigations on 18F-fluciclovine PET for PCa. Boolean criteria included the terms: prostate, fluciclovine, FACBC and Axumin. Published articles meeting these criteria and their respective bibliographies and diagnostic modalities were included after review, when appropriate. Our literature review identified 93 articles. Among these, 18 met our inclusion criteria. Evidence suggests 18F-fluciclovine PET imaging is safe, well-tolerated and offers acceptable sensitivity and specificity for the detection of localized intraglandular and extraprostatic PCa foci in the setting of persistence or recurrence after primary treatment. Compared to other available PET radiotracers available, evidence suggests that 18F-fluciclovine may outperform ProstaScint and 11C-choline in this clinical setting. Furthermore, 18F-fluciclovine PET may aid guiding decision-making in regards to salvage therapy planning. Further investigation is warranted to validate these early findings and to further compare this agent to other available radiotracers in this setting.

Role of Prostate MRI in the Setting of Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer.

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MRI findings guiding selection of active surveillance for prostate cancer: a review of emerging evidence.

Active surveillance (AS) for prostate cancer (PCa) is generally considered to be a safe strategy for men with low-risk, localized disease. However, as many as 1 in 4 patients may be incorrectly classified as AS-eligible using traditional inclusion criteria. The use of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) may offer improved risk stratification in both the initial diagnostic and disease monitoring setting. We performed a review of recently published studies to evaluate the utility of this imaging modality for this clinical setting. An English literature search was conducted on PubMed for original investigations on localized PCa, AS, and magnetic resonance imaging. Our Boolean criteria included the following terms: PCa, AS, imaging, MRI, mpMRI, prospective, retrospective, and comparative. Our search excluded publication types such as comments, editorials, guidelines, reviews, or interviews. Our literature review identified 71 original investigations. Among these, 52 met our inclusion criteria. Evidence suggests mpMRI improves characterization of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) foci, and the enhanced detection and risk-stratification afforded by this modality may keep men from being inappropriately placed on AS. Use of serial mpMRI may also permit longer intervals between confirmatory biopsies. Multiple studies demonstrate the benefit of MRI-targeted biopsies. The use of mpMRI of the prostate offers improved confidence in risk-stratification for men with clinically low-risk PCa considering AS. While on AS, serial mpMRI and MRI-targeted biopsy aid in the detection of aggressive disease transformation or foci of clinically-significant cancer undetected on prior biopsy sessions.

Targets missed: predictors of MRI-targeted biopsy failing to accurately localize prostate cancer found on systematic biopsy.

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/ultrasound (US) fusion-guided biopsy has improved the ability to localize and detect prostate cancer (PCa) with efficiency surpassing systematic biopsy. Nevertheless, some patients have PCa missed using the MRI-targeted biopsy sampling alone. We aim to identify clinical and imaging parameters associated with cases where targeted biopsy did not detect PCa compared to systematic biopsy. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of patients who underwent MRI/US fusion-guided biopsy in addition to concurrent systematic, extended-sextant biopsy between 2014 and 2017. For patients with PCa detected on systematic biopsy not properly localized by MRI/US fusion-guided biopsy, the sextant distance from MRI-targeted lesion to the cancer-positive sextant was calculated and parameters potentially predicting this targeting miss were evaluated. RESULTS: In all, 35/127 (27.6%) patients with single-session MRI/US fusion-guided biopsy plus standard biopsy finding PCa had lesions incorrectly localized. Of these, 15/35 (42.9%) were identified as possible fusion-software misregistrations. The remainder, 12/35 (34.3%), represented targeted biopsies one sextant away from the cancer focus and 8/35 (22.9%) targeted biopsies two sextants away from the cancer focus. Only 7/35 (20.0%) patients were determined to have clinically significant PCa, which represents 7/127 (5.5%) of the overall population. Lower MRI lesion volumes (p = 0.022), lesion density (p < 0.001), and PI-RADS scores (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with targeted biopsy missing PCa detected on systematic biopsy. CONCLUSION: Clinically significant PCa is rarely missed utilizing MRI/US fusion-guided biopsy. With the majority of missed tumors representing targeting misregistrations or cases of low-grade cancer in sextants immediately adjacent to MRI suspicious lesions. Lower MRI lesion volumes, lesion density, and PI-RADS are predictors of cases with targeted biopsies missing cancer, for which systematic sampling of the sextants containing MRI targets and adjacent sextants would most optimize PCa detection.

Prostate Cancer Imaging and Biomarkers Guiding Safe Selection of Active Surveillance.

BACKGROUND: Active surveillance (AS) is a widely adopted strategy to monitor men with low-risk, localized prostate cancer (PCa). Current AS inclusion criteria may misclassify as many as one in four patients. The advent of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) and novel PCa biomarkers may offer improved risk stratification. We performed a review of recently published literature to characterize emerging evidence in support of these novel modalities. METHODS: An English literature search was conducted on PubMed for available original investigations on localized PCa, AS, imaging, and biomarkers published within the past 3 years. Our Boolean criteria included the following terms: PCa, AS, imaging, biomarker, genetic, genomic, prospective, retrospective, and comparative. The bibliographies and diagnostic modalities of the identified studies were used to expand our search. RESULTS: Our review identified 222 original studies. Our expanded search yielded 244 studies. Among these, 70 met our inclusion criteria. Evidence suggests mpMRI offers improved detection of clinically significant PCa, and MRI-fusion technology enhances the sensitivity of surveillance biopsies. Multiple studies demonstrate the promise of commercially available screening assays for prediction of AS failure, and several novel biomarkers show promise in this setting. CONCLUSION: In the era of AS for men with low-risk PCa, improved strategies for proper stratification are needed. mpMRI has dramatically enhanced the detection of clinically significant PCa. The advent of novel biomarkers for prediction of aggressive disease and AS failure has shown some initial promise, but further validation is warranted.

Prediction of Prolonged Ventilation after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: Data from an Artificial Neural Network.

OBJECTIVES: The need for mechanical ventilation 24 hours after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is considered a morbidity by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The purpose of this investigation was twofold: to identify simple preoperative patient factors independently associated with prolonged ventilation and to optimize prediction and early identification of patients prone to prolonged ventilation using an artificial neural network (ANN). METHODS: Using the institutional Adult Cardiac Database, 738 patients who underwent CABG since 2005 were reviewed for preoperative factors independently associated with prolonged postoperative ventilation. Prediction of prolonged ventilation from the identified variables was modeled using both "traditional" multiple logistic regression and an ANN. The two models were compared using Pearson r2 and area under the curve (AUC) parameters. RESULTS: Of 738 included patients, 14% (104/738) required mechanical ventilation ≥ 24 hours postoperatively. Upon multivariate analysis, higher body-mass index (BMI; odds ratio [OR] 1.10 per unit, P < 0.001), lower ejection fraction (OR 0.97 per %, P = 0.01) and use of cardiopulmonary bypass (OR 2.59, P = 0.02) were independently predictive of prolonged ventilation. The Pearson r2 and AUC of the multivariate nominal logistic regression model were 0.086 and 0.698 ± 0.05, respectively; analogous statistics of the ANN model were 0.159 and 0.732 ± 0.05, respectively.BMI, ejection fraction and cardiopulmonary bypass represent three simple factors that may predict prolonged ventilation after CABG. Early identification of these patients can be optimized using an ANN, an emerging paradigm for clinical outcomes modeling that may consider complex relationships among these variables.

TPX2 as a prognostic indicator and potential therapeutic target in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: Our aims were to determine if targeting protein for Xklp2 (TPX2) is correlated with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) histology and oncologic outcomes using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and an institutional tissue microarray (TMA). METHODS: Clinicopathological data obtained from the TCGA consisted of 415 samples diagnosed with ccRCC. A TMA was constructed from tumors of 207 patients who underwent radical nephrectomy for ccRCC. TPX2 expression by immunohistochemistry on TMA was assessed by a genitourinary pathologist. Clinical data were extracted and linked to TMA cores. TPX2 and Aurora-A mRNA coexpression were evaluated in the TCGA cohort. Overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival, and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank statistics. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: Median follow-up time for the TCGA cohort was 3.07 years. Aurora-A and TPX2 mRNA coexpression were significantly correlated (Pearson correlation = 0.918). High TPX2 mRNA expression was associated with advanced stage, metastasis, poor OS, and RFS. Median follow-up time for the TMA cohort was 5.3 years. Elevated TPX2 protein expression, defined as greater than 75th percentile staining intensity, was identified in 47/207 (22.7%) patients. Increased TPX2 immunostaining was associated with poor OS (P = 0.0327, 53% 5-year mortality), cancer-specific survival (P<0.01, 47.8% 5-year cancer-specific mortality), RFS (P = 0.0313, 73.6%, 5-year recurrence rate), grade, T stage, and metastasis. Multivariate analysis demonstrated elevated expression served as an independent predictor of RFS (hazard ratio = 3.62 (1.13-11.55), P = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS: We show TPX2, a regulator of Aurora-A, is associated with high grade and stage of ccRCC, and is an independent predictor of recurrence. Future studies are warranted testing its role in ccRCC biology, and its potential as a therapeutic target.