Assessment of relative tumor burden in patients with clinical T1c prostate cancer treated with either external beam or radical prostatectomy.

The choice between external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) or retropubic radical prostatectomy (RPX) as potentially curative treatment for localized carcinoma of the prostate gland (CaP) has not been delineated in randomized studies. Both treatments are more effective if tumor burden is low. We sought to compare these two treatments in patients who had clinical stage T1c (cT1c) lesions and who were thought to have limited tumor burdens pretreatment. Sixty cT1c patients referred to the Department of Radiation Oncology received 66 Gy in 33 sessions of EBRT to localized prostate ports and 59 cT1c patients had RPX. No neoadjuvant nor early adjuvant therapies were prescribed. Radiotherapy success was defined biochemically as a nonrising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) of +/- 1.5 ng/ml. RPX success required a postoperative PSA that was undetectable (PSA <0.2 ng/ml by the Hybritech or Abbott IMx technics). Analysis for nonrising posttreatment PSA levels was performed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression methods. Mantel-Haenszel methods were used to determine odds ratios for treatment groups adjusting for potential confounders. We ultimately assessed the relative tumor burden by histologic examination of the RPX specimens. The two treatment groups, although not randomized, were statistically similar in biopsy Gleason Scores, transrectal ultrasonography calculated gland volumes, number of positive biopsy cores, and estimated amount of cancer identified on initial biopsies. Pathologic stage T3 was identified in 25% of RPX patients. Fifty to 60% of RPX specimens histologically had substantial tumor burden and by inference also the EBRT patients. At a median follow-up (F/U) of 36 months, 76% of RPX patients maintained an undetectable PSA, whereas 62% of EBRT patients had a PSA < 1.5 ng/ml at a median F/U of 29 months. The pretreatment PSA values significantly affected EBRT patients' risk of a rising posttreatment PSA level. Twenty-four months after treatment, RPX patients were 3.7 times more likely to maintain a nonrising PSA level (RPX patients posttreatment PSA < 0.2 ng/ml), than EBRT patients (posttreatment PSA < or = 1.5 ng/ml) (p = 0.006). Sixty-six gray in 33 sessions to localized EBRT ports is not sufficiently aggressive therapy for one third or more of patients with cT1c CaP. RPX alone is insufficient therapy for one fourth of cT1c patients. Analysis of the RPX specimens showed that many cT1c tumors have a significant tumor burden. Selection methodologies to separate out patients who require more than conventional dose or type of radiotherapy or more than RPX as monotherapy are needed. Pretreatment PSA and number of positive biopsies may assist this selection process.

Anti-refluxing colon conduits for diversion of dilated upper urinary tracts.

Ureteral tailoring and colonic conduit urinary diversion were performed in 10 dogs. 2 wk to 2 mo after ureteral ligation. Two to five months after urinary diversion, radiography and postmortem examination revealed reflux in only 11% of the ureters and no evidence of obstruction at the ureterocolonic anastomosis. Pyelonephritis was observed in a lower percentage of animals so diverted, as compared to control kidneys diverted by means of ileoconduits. These results support the use of anti-refluxing colonic conduits for diversion of dilated upper urinary tracts.

Nephrogenic metaplasia (adenomatoid tumors) of bladder.

Two cases of rare nephrogenic metaplasia of the bladder (adenomatoid bladder tumor) support the theory that these tumors originate as an atypical metaplastic response of urothelium to chronic infection or irritation. That these may also represent mesonephric or mesothelial choristomas is considered. Although benign, they may recur. Therapy should consist of antibiotics and transurethral resection or fulguration.

Radiographic evaluation of renal excursion with respiration.

An unusual case stimulated investigation of radiographic changes in renal axis resulting from respiratory excursion. Prospective study of 20 "routine" excretory urograms revealed no statistically significant differences in renal axis whether the film was taken in full expiration or inspiration. Clinical implications and a review of pertinent literature are discussed.

Radical retroperitoneal lymph node dissection: how effective in removal of all retroperitoneal nodes?

Several large series have supported the success of retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy as a primary therapeutic modality in the management of non-seminomatous germ cell testicular neoplasms. In 1963 Tavel and associates reported on the inadequacy of this procedure in the complete extirpation of all the retroperitoneal lymph nodes. Our investigation was undertaken to test their conclusions, the sole difference in technique being that the infrarenal lumbar vessels were ligated and divided during the lymph node dissection. Results in 12 cadavers revealed that all retroperitoneal nodal tissue could be excised with the modified technique. These findings were further verified by the absence of any residual retroperitoneal lymph nodes in 3 patients who died of metastatic embryonal cell carcinoma. The extirpative efficacy of this procedure having been established, any major deleterious effects of lumbar ligation, primarily spinal cord ischemia, must be considered. Based on our experience and that of others it may be concluded that this complication represents a minimal risk that should not discourage use of this effective therapeutic procedure.