Refractory fistula of bladder repaired with transurethral cystoscopic injection of N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate.

INTRODUCTION: Refractory fistulas of the bladder are not rare, but they can rarely be closed naturally. Bladder fistulas can be treated in various ways. We report the case of an old woman who had a refractory fistula of the bladder that was able to be repaired with transurethral cystoscopic injection of N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate. CASE PRESENTATION: For decades after being treated for cervical cancer in 1970s, the woman frequently suffered from fevers. A computed tomography scan showed pelvic abscess at the left side of her bladder, and cystography showed urine leakage at the wall. Thus, we diagnosed her with a pelvic abscess due to a bladder fistula after radiation. Then, we treated her with drainage, antibiotic agents, and N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate. After that, she no longer had fevers, and cystography showed no leakage of urine. CONCLUSION: This result indicates transurethral cystoscopic injection of N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate may treat bladder fistulas safely, minimally invasively, and quickly.

Impact of radiological morphology of clinical T1 renal cell carcinoma on the prediction of upstaging to pathological T3.

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have reported that cases with clinical T1 renal cell cancer upstaging to pathological T3 are a risk factor to predicting postoperative recurrence after partial nephrectomy. The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of the radiological morphology of the enhanced CT scan of clinical T1 renal cell cancer on predicting upstaging to pathological T3. METHODS: Three hundred sixty-seven cases with clinical T1 renal cell cancer diagnosed from enhanced CT scans were enrolled in this study. Based on the findings from the enhanced CT scan, the cases were classified into 'round', the margins of which were smooth and round; 'lobular', one or more findings of smooth dent and no spiky dent were identified on the margin of the tumor; and 'irregular', one or more spiky dent were identified on the margin of the tumor. The association of postoperative upstaging with these radiological morphology and other clinical characteristics of each case was analyzed. RESULTS: Eighteen cases (4.9%) pathologically upstaged to T3a. Two round case (0.7%), 3 lobular cases (10.0%) and 13 irregular cases (22.0%) pathologically upstaged (P < 0.001, round + lobular versus irregular). Four of 17 cases (23.5%) with hilar tumors pathologically upstaged, while 14 of 350 cases (4%) with tumors pathologically upstaged in other sites (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that irregular case was an independent factor in predicting upstaging to pathological T3a (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of the radiological morphology of clinical T1 renal cell cancer based on enhanced CT scans is useful for predicting pathological upstaging.

Impact of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio on effects of targeted therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients with extrapulmonary metastasis.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of our present study was to investigate the impact of the pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on the antitumour effects of targeted agents in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). METHODS: The NLRs in 283 cases of molecular targeted therapy for mRCC were measured before starting the prescription of the molecular targeted agent. The significance of pretreatment NLR on the site of metastatic organs and on progression-free survival (PFS) in each case was analyzed. RESULTS: Metastases other than lung, which is defined as "extrapulmonary metastasis," were observed in 190 cases (67.1%). The median of pretreated NLR was 2.39 (0.49-68.7). In 97 of the 283 cases, pretreated NLR was 3.0 or higher. These cases were categorized as the high NLR group and the rest as the low NLR group. When the cases with extrapulmonary metastasis were investigated and classified based on their pretreated NLR, 50% PFS in the high NLR and low NLR groups was 6.7 months and 12 months (p=0.0001), respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that high NLR (>3.0) was an independent predictive factor for PFS in the cases with extrapulmonary metastasis (hazard ratio 2.762; p<0.0001), while there was no significant difference between PFS in the high and low NLR groups in cases with no extrapulmonary metastasis (p=0.3457). CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that the predictive significance of the NLR in mRCC cases involving targeted therapy depends on the metastatic organs. NLR is an independent predictive factor of PFS in cases of mRCC with extrapulmonary metastasis treated with targeted therapy.

Serous adenocarcinoma of retroperitoneum: a case report.

Primary retroperitoneal serous adenocarcinoma (PRSA) is an extremely rare malignancy, with only seven cases having been previously reported. We report a case of PRSA in a 42-year-old woman treated with surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy. The histopathological findings of PRSA resemble those of ovarian serous carcinoma, which indicates that a combination of complete surgical resection with adjuvant chemotherapy may be the best treatment option for PRSA.

The impact of change in serum C-reactive protein level on the prediction of effects of molecular targeted therapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of pretreatment serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level and its change after targeted therapy on the anti-tumour effect of targeted agents in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The serum CRP level in 190 cases of molecular targeted therapy for mRCC was measured before starting the prescription of molecular targeted agents and when computed tomography showed the maximum effect. Patients in which the pretreatment CRP level was ≥0.5 mg/dL were classified into a 'higher-CRP' group and others into a 'lower-CRP' group. The higher-CRP group was further classified into two subgroups, i.e. those whose serum CRP level decreased after molecular targeted therapy ('decreased-CRP' subgroup), and those whose level did not decrease after therapy ('non-decreased-CRP' subgroup). All patients were also classified according to their other clinical details and progression-free survival (PFS) rates of each subgroup were compared. RESULTS: Of the 190 patients, 97 were categorised as lower CRP and 93 as higher CRP, with 50 and 43 patients in the higher-CRP group further categorised as decreased- and non-decreased-CRP subgroups, respectively. For the maximum effects of the targeted therapy, determined based on the Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria, in the lower-CRP group, significantly more patients had a complete response (CR) and partial response (PR) (P = 0.002) and significantly fewer had progressive disease (PD) (P < 0.001) vs the higher-CRP group. In the higher-CRP group, significantly fewer patients had PD in the decreased-CRP subgroup (P < 0.001) than those in the non-decreased-CRP subgroup. The 2-year PFS rate for the lower-CRP group (39.1%) was significantly better vs the decreased-CRP subgroup (21.2%; P = 0.013) and significantly better vs the non-decreased CRP subgroup (0%; P < 0.001). Multivariate analyses in the higher-CRP group revealed that decreased CRP was an independent predictive factor for PFS (P = 0.002, hazard ratio 2.454, 95% confidence interval 1.404-4.290). CONCLUSION: A decrease of CRP and pretreatment CRP levels show promise as a novel predictive factor for anti-tumour effects in patients treated with molecular targeted therapy.