Challenges to Recruiting Men on Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer in Clinical Chemoprevention Trials.

Clinical trials play a critical role in evidence-based medicine, when rigorous scientific methodology is utilized to discover and test the effectiveness and safety of new drugs to prevent or cure diseases, including cancer. Participation in clinical trials thus becomes key to successful completion of these trials. Although it is estimated that >70% of Americans are inclined to participate in clinical trials, less than 5% of adult cancer patients participate in clinical trials. There is thus a large gap between those inclined to participate in clinical trials and actual participation in clinical trials. As with trials targeting men with prostate cancer (PCa) on active surveillance (AS), where the target population is mostly over 50 years of age, others have observed several challenges with recruitment and accrual in clinical trials. The participation rate is currently unavailable for men on primary and secondary chemoprevention trials. Additionally, with unanticipated environmental factors such as a pandemic or other natural emergencies that may severely impact the economy, personal property, travel and person-to person contact for study-related procedures, there is a need to continuously identify these challenges and determine solutions to recruitment barriers in chemoprevention trials to ensure timely completion of early phase trials. Recent studies regarding the impact of the pandemic on clinical trial recruitment have shown that cancer prevention trials were relatively more negatively impacted compared to cancer treatment trials. The goal of this manuscript is to review our experience in continuously evaluating the protocol and patient level challenges to recruiting subjects on AS for PCa in this cancer chemoprevention trial conducted at the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) and report the contemporary strategies that we are utilizing to continue to recruit subjects in this trial. We provide data from our current trial as an example while discussing future strategies to improve overall clinical trial recruitment. These strategies can inform future design of contemporary cancer chemoprevention trials and, additionally, better select, focus and invest in strategies that are the most productive and efficient for recruiting target populations.

Improved Outcomes of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Protocol for Radical Cystectomy with Addition of a Multidisciplinary Care Process in a US Comprehensive Cancer Care Center.

INTRODUCTION: Although enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) components include both anesthesia and surgical care processes, it is unclear whether a multidisciplinary approach to implementing ERAS care processes improves clinical outcomes. The addition of multidisciplinary care with anesthesiology-related components to an existing ERAS protocol for radical cystectomy at a US comprehensive cancer center provided an opportunity to compare short- and long-term outcomes. METHODS: We retrospectively compared the outcomes of 116 consecutive patients who underwent cystectomy after implementation of a multidisciplinary ERAS protocol with those of a historical control group of 143 consecutive patients who had been treated with a surgical ERAS protocol. Length of stay, return of bowel function, rate of blood transfusion, nausea, pain, and readmission rates were examined. RESULTS: Implementation of a multidisciplinary ERAS protocol was associated with better postsurgical symptom control, as indicated by lower rates of patient-reported nausea (P < .05). Multivariate Poisson regression analysis showed a decrease in estimated intraoperative transfusions (P ≤ .001) after adjusting for the effects of potential confounding variables. There were no statistically significant differences noted in length of stay, return of bowel function, 30- and 90-day complications, or readmissions. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to investigate the effects of adding anesthesia ERAS components to an existing surgical ERAS protocol for radical cystectomy. We found that with the addition of anesthesia-related interventions, there was a decrease in transfusions and nausea.

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Elderly Patients With Bladder Cancer: Oncologic Outcomes From a Single Institution Experience.

INTRODUCTION: We conducted this study to determine if, in appropriately selected elderly patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), clinical outcomes including pathologic complete response/downstaging and overall survival were similar to a younger cohort. METHODS: Chart review was performed on patients receiving NAC for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) from 2004 to 2013. A total of 116 patients were identified that underwent NAC from 2004 to 2013 for ≥ cT2N0M0 UCB. Patients were excluded who received 2 cycles or less of chemotherapy (N = 18; 11 patients in the younger cohort, 7 in the elderly group; P = .74). Data was analyzed, and Kaplan-Meir analysis curves were used for survival and recurrence. RESULTS: Forty-six elderly patients (age ≥ 70 years) (67% cisplatin-based regimen) were identified and compared with 70 (93% cisplatin-based regimen) younger patients. The estimated glomerular filtration rate, performance status, preoperative hemoglobin, and body mass index were significantly worse in elderly patients. Dose reduction and pathologic downstaging to non-muscle-invasive disease was not statistically different between older and younger patients Complete pathologic response in older patients (16%) and in the younger cohort (17%) were similar (P = .146). There was no significant difference in follow-up, recurrence, or in median overall survival between patient groups (28 months elderly vs. 35 months younger; P = .78). Age was not an independent predictor of pathologic downstaging, complete response, overall survival, or recurrence-free survival. CONCLUSIONS: NAC in elderly patients (≥ 70 years old) demonstrated equivalent toxicity and oncologic outcomes in our single-institution cohort. Although older patients had significantly poorer performance status and renal function, there were no differences in survival or response to NAC.

Clinical Significance of p53 and p16(ink4a) Status in a Contemporary North American Penile Carcinoma Cohort.

BACKGROUND: Because of the low incidence of penile carcinoma (PC), the value of p16(ink4a), p53, and human papilloma virus (HPV) infection status in clinical practice remains unclear. Herein, we report our experience with potential clinical utility of these markers in men with PC treated at our institution. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Tissue microarrays of 57 cases of invasive penile squamous cell carcinomas were immunohistochemically stained for p16 and p53. HPV in situ hybridization (ISH) for high-risk subtypes was also performed. Association between marker status, nodal disease, overall (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were assessed. RESULTS: p16 and HPV ISH were positive in 23 (40%) and 24 (42%) of the cohort, respectively. The proportion of warty, basaloid, or mixed warty basaloid tumor subtypes were significantly greater in the p16-positive patients (48% vs. 3%; P < .01). p53 expression was negative in 31 (54%) cases. Only in p16-negative patients, positive p53 status was associated with pN+ disease (odds ratio, 4.4 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04-18.6]). In Kaplan-Meier analysis, the unadjusted estimated OS was insignificantly longer in p16-positive patients (median OS, 75 vs. 27 months; P = .27) and median CSS was not reached (P = .16). In a multivariable Cox proportional hazard model, when controlling for pathological nodal status and adjuvant chemotherapy, p16 status was a significant predictor for improved CSS (hazard ratio, 0.36 [95% CI, 0.13-0.99]). The worst CSS was seen in pN+ patients with double negative p16 and p53 expression (8 vs. 34 months; P = .01). CONCLUSION: In this current cohort, p53 and p16 status showed clinical utility in predicting nodal disease as well as survival.

Salvage focal prostate cryoablation for locally recurrent prostate cancer after radiotherapy: initial results from the cryo on-line data registry.

BACKGROUND: Several investigators have tried to apply salvage focal prostate cryoablation to small numbers of patients with biopsy-proven unilateral recurrent prostate cancer (PCa) after radiotherapy with the aim of decreasing complications of salvage cryoablation. We report contemporary outcomes of salvage focal cryoablation for locally recurrent PCa after radiotherapy within the Cryo On-Line Data (COLD) Registry. METHODS: We queried the COLD Registry to identify patients diagnosed as locally recurrent PCa after radiotherapy and treated with salvage focal cryoablation. Patients with hormone ablation after cryotherapy were excluded. The biochemical disease-free survival and morbidities were analyzed. Biochemical failure was defined using the Phoenix definition. RESULTS: From 2002 to 2012, 91 patients with biopsy-proven radio-recurrent PCa underwent salvage focal cryoablation with curative intent. The biochemical disease-free survival rates were 95.3%, 72.4%, and 46.5% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. Positive biopsies after salvage focal cryoablation were observed in four of 14 patients who underwent biopsy (28.6%). Rectourethral fistula was observed in three cases (3.3%). Urinary retention was observed in six cases (6.6%). Incontinence (requiring pad use) was reported in five cases (5.5%). Intercourse was reported in 10 of 20 patients (50%) who reported potency before salvage focal cryoablation. CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes from this observational study indicate that salvage focal cryoablation can be an effective treatment with encouraging potency preservation for patients with locally recurrent PCa after radiotherapy. However, other morbidity including rectourethral fistula and incontinence are not clearly lower than for patients treated with salvage whole gland cryoablation. Studies with longer follow-up, more patients, and direct comparison to salvage whole gland cryoablation are needed before recommending salvage focal cryoablation as a standard treatment option for these patients.

Surgical outcomes in the management of isolated nodal recurrences: a multicenter, international retrospective cohort.

PURPOSE: We report a multicenter international cohort representing what is to our knowledge the largest surgical experience with managing isolated retroperitoneal nodal recurrence of renal cell carcinoma, a unique subset of locoregional disease, yet to be described in detail. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with isolated nodal recurrence of pTanyN+M0 disease after nephrectomy were identified by retrospective chart review at 3 independent institutions. Progression-free survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and used to compare survival outcomes between primary T(1-2)N(any)M0 and T3N(any)M0 tumors as well as clear cell and nonclear cell histology renal cell carcinoma. RESULTS: A total of 22 patients met study inclusion criteria. Median time to local postoperative recurrence was 31.5 months (IQR 12.9-43.3). After resection of isolated nodal recurrence 10 patients (46%) had a secondary recurrence at a median of 11.2 months (IQR 8.1-18.4), of whom 2 (9%) died of the disease. Overall median progression-free survival was 12.7 months, including 24.8 months for T(1-2)N(any)M0 tumors, 9.9 months for T3N(any)M0 tumors, and 13.4 and 17.6 months for clear and nonclear cell renal cell carcinoma, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical resection represents the best curative option for patients who present with isolated retroperitoneal lymph node recurrence of renal cell carcinoma. Durable postoperative progression-free survival is attainable in many patients regardless of histology or clinical TNM stage. In addition, our cohort showed a lower renal cell carcinoma related mortality rate than in previous series of local metastasis. As such, all patients free of precluding comorbidities should be considered candidates for complete surgical resection performed by an experienced genitourinary surgeon.

Spectrum of renal pathology in adult patients with congenital renal anomalies-a series from a tertiary cancer center.

Congenital renal anomalies (CRAs) detected in adults include horseshoe kidney (HK), crossed renal ectopia, and malrotation. Congenital renal anomalies are rare, and renal lesions associated with CRA are rarer. Thirteen patients (11 men and 2 women) were referred to our center with renal masses in the context of CRAs, which included HK (10 cases), crossed renal ectopia (2 cases), and a pelvic kidney (1 case). The mean age at diagnosis was 60 years (37-76 years). All patients were treated with open surgery; 10, partial nephrectomies; 4, radical nephrectomies; and 1, nephroureterectomy with division of the renal isthmus. Pathology ranged from benign (simple cortical cysts, chronic pyelonephritis with secondary hydronephrosis) to malignant (12 cases of renal cell carcinomas [RCCs] and 1 case of urothelial carcinoma). Two patients of HKs presented with bilateral renal masses. The size of the RCC ranged from 2.5 to 13 cm. There were 11 cases of clear cell RCC, 1 case of papillary RCC (type 1), and 1 case of urothelial carcinoma. All the cases of RCC had negative surgical margins. Follow-up available in all patients ranged from 1 month up to 49 months. None of the patients developed any locoregional recurrences or distant metastases. In this patient cohort, the most common congenital anomaly associated with RCC is HK. All tumors behaved in an indolent fashion with prognosis related to pathologic tumor stage. Partial nephrectomy is a safe and effective procedure in appropriately selected patients.