Orthotopic neobladder reconstruction in elderly bladder cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: We compared the clinical results of orthotopic neobladder reconstruction in elderly patients and those in younger patients retrospectively in order to verify whether age is a critical factor in selecting a method of urinary diversion. METHODS: Following radical cystectomy for bladder cancer, 12 patients aged 75 or older and 17 patients under 75 who underwent orthotopic neobladder reconstruction between January 1992 and May 1999 were investigated in this study. The authors TS and BS were among the surgeons who performed operations for all cases. Of the 12 elderly patients, orthotopic neobladders were constructed according to Hautmann's method in nine cases, Studer's method in one case and Reddy's method in two cases. Of the 17 younger patients, these methods were employed in 12, one and four cases, respectively. Operative procedure, early and late complications, prognosis, continence and voiding pattern were investigated in these patients. RESULTS: The follow-up periods for elderly and younger groups ranged from 21.3 to 82.7 months and from 8.8 to 94.2 months, respectively. No difference in operation time, amount of bleeding or postoperative length of hospitalization was observed between elderly and younger patients. The rates of early complications in elderly and younger patients were 41.7% and 35.3%, respectively. Late complication rates were 33.3% and 47.1%, respectively. The difference in these complication rates was not statistically significant. One of the elderly and two of the younger patients had local recurrence and metastasis postoperatively. Those three patients had died of their bladder cancer. No statistically significant difference between groups was recognized in either cause-specific survival or overall survival, nor was there such a difference in relation to micturition/continence. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, we believe that because age is not a critical factor in the selection of urinary diversion method, neobladder reconstruction following cystectomy for bladder cancer is indicated in elderly patients. As stoma management is difficult for the patients, we consider orthotopic neobladder reconstruction to be the method of choice if the patients' general physical condition allows.

[The usefulness of urinary FDP in the diagnosis of bladder cancer: comparison with NMP22, BTA and cytology].

PURPOSE: We assessed the utility of urine fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) as the screening test for bladder cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Single voided specimens were obtained from 87 consecutive patients (61 men and 26 women, mean age 70.7) on cystoscopy, and FDP, NMP22, BTA and cytology test were performed for the same specimens. Final diagnosis of bladder cancer was made by histological examination, which were compared with the results of above four screening methods. RESULTS: Histologically confirmed bladder cancer was found in 14 cases. Overall sensitivity of urinary FDP, NMP22, BTA and cytology were 79, 64, 36 and 36%, respectively. While the sensitivity of FDP was significantly higher than that of BTA and cytology, no significant difference was found between FDP and NMP22. Overall specificity of these four methods were 69, 78, 92 and 90%, respectively. The specificity of FDP and NMP22 were significantly lower than that of BTA and cytology, but satisfactory as a screening test. The sensitivity of the four methods for low-grade and non-invasive tumors were 70, 50, 30 and 10% (G1 or G2, n = 10), and 75, 58, 33 and 25% (Ta or T1, n = 12), respectively. FDP might have a high sensitivity for even low-grade and non-invasive tumors. CONCLUSIONS: FDP in voided urine is a good screening method for bladder cancer because of its high sensitivity for low-grade and non-invasive tumors, and its diagnostic ability could be superior to NMP22.

[Clinical study of radical cystectomy and urinary reconstruction in elderly patients with bladder cancer].

We compared the clinical and functional results of radical cystectomy and urinary reconstructions performed on 19 elderly bladder cancer patients over 75 years old to those on 22 younger patients to determine whether age was one of the critical points for the application of this type of surgery. Between January 1992 and January 1998, bladder substitution was performed after cystectomy using either the Hautmann, Studer or Reddy procedure in 9 of the 19 elderly patients. Urinary diversion was performed after cystectomy using ileal conduit and ureterocutaneostomy procedures in the rest of the patients. On the other hand, bladder substitutions were performed in 11; urinary diversions with continent urinary reservoir in 6 and with ileal conduit in 4 of the 22 younger patients. Neither prolongation of the operation time, nor increase in the amount of bleeding or prolongation of the post-operative hospitalization period was observed in any procedure used for elderly patients in comparison with younger ones. In elderly patients, the average operation time of radical cystectomy with bladder substitution was slightly longer than that of total cystectomy with ileal conduit or ureterocutaneostomy. The post-operative hospitalization period in the case of bladder substitution was similar to that for ileal conduit and ureterocutaneostomy with the difference of only 5 days on average. There were no peri-operative deaths, and early post-operative complications were observed in 3 of 9 cases of the bladder substitution, in 4 of 10 cases of ileal conduit or ureterocutaneostomy. Five cases of bladder substitution maintained their comfortable voiding urine comfortably, while 4 had dysuria and/or urinary incontinence. Over all, late complications occurred in 10 of the elderly patients. The rate and types of complications in the elderly patients were not different from those in the younger patients. The cause-specific survival rate and overall survival rates of the elderly patients were similar to those of the younger patients. In conclusion, indication of cystectomy and selection of urinary reconstruction procedure are not dependent on patient's age, Orthotopic urinary reservoir was found to be useful for even an elderly patient.

[Clinical studies on renal trauma].

A total of 18 kidneys in 17 patients with renal trauma were treated at the Department of Urology, Mitoyo General Hospital between April 1991 and August 1997. Patients were between 10 and 88 years old (median; 52). Eleven of them were male and 6 were female. The main cause of injury was a traffic accident in 11 cases (64.7%), which was similar in tendency to previous reports in this country. According to the Classification of Renal Injury by the Japanese Association for the Surgery of Trauma in Japan, there were 8 cases (47.1%) of Type I (sub-capsular injury) and Type II (superficial injury) that was classified a minor injury, and there were 9 cases (52.9%) of Type III (deep injury), Type IV (pedicle injury) and open injury that was classified as a major injury. Surgical treatment was performed in 8 cases (47.1%), which were all classified as a major injury. Posttraumatic plasma lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was elevated immediately in case of major injury in comparison with a case of minor injury. Serum LDH may be useful as a parameter of the degree of renal trauma.