Vulnerability to Financial Toxicity From Stone Surgery.

PURPOSE: Financial toxicity has been described in stone formers however little is understood regarding its causes and how it may relate to stone surgery. We therefore aimed to longitudinally describe markers of financial strain in stone formers from the preoperative to postoperative time points. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted from January 2022 to April 2023. Patients were enrolled in the waiting area prior to undergoing elective ureteroscopy or percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Participants completed the Commonwealth Fund's Biennial Health Insurance Survey at this time point and at 30 days postop. Items were pre-selected from the survey to capture markers of financial strain due to healthcare costs. RESULTS: One hundred nine participants were enrolled. Participants were a majority white (70%), college educated (62%), and privately ensured (72%). Despite these traditionally protective sociodemographic features, 42% of patients reported some marker of financial strain at the preoperative timepoint. Patients with Medicaid reported even higher financial stress (67%). Furthermore, 46% of patients did not know their deductible amount. Response rate was low at 30 days postop (35%) but suggested some patients were experiencing new financial strains. CONCLUSIONS: This paper shows that a significant proportion of stone patients are already displaying markers of financial strain from healthcare bills even prior to surgery as well as poor understanding of the costs they may incur. This makes them vulnerable to experiencing financial toxicity postoperatively and emphasizes the importance of understanding all contributing factors when developing future strategies to intervene in financial toxicity.

Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening in Smokers: A Comprehensive Analysis Using a National Behavioral Survey.

INTRODUCTION: Cigarette smoking is associated with higher-risk prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis and increased overall and prostate cancer‒specific mortality. Previous studies indicate smokers are less likely to undergo PSA screening. Herein we investigate the association between smoking and PSA screening using a nationally representative US survey. We hypothesize that smokers are less likely to undergo guideline-concordant PSA screening. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of men aged 55 to 69 who responded to the cigarette smoking and PSA screening questions of the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey. Adjusted prevalence and adjusted risk differences were calculated using complex weighted multivariable Poisson regression modeling. RESULTS: We identified 58,996 individuals who qualified for analysis. PSA screening prevalence was 39% (95% CI: 39%-40%) nationally, 42% (95% CI: 41%-44%) for never smokers, 42% (95% CI: 39%-40%) for former smokers, and 27% (95% CI: 25%-29%) for current smokers, including 27% (95% CI: 24%-29%) for daily smokers and 29% (95% CI: 24%-33%) for nondaily smokers. Compared to never smokers, the adjusted relative risk for undergoing PSA screening was 0.81 for current smokers (95% CI: 0.75-0.88, P < .01) and 0.99 for former smokers (95% CI: 0.94-1.03, P = .53). CONCLUSIONS: Current smokers are less likely to undergo recommended PSA screening, but former smokers are screened at similar rates as never smokers. As delays in diagnosis may substantially contribute to worse prostate cancer outcomes, targeted interventions to increase screening in this population may yield significant effects.

Survival outcomes of organ sparing surgery, partial penectomy, and total penectomy in pathological T1/T2 penile cancer: Report from the National Cancer Data Base.

PURPOSE: To describe the survival outcomes of organ sparing surgery (OSS), partial penectomy (PP), and total penectomy (TP) in pathological stage pT1/pT2 penile cancer (PC) as reported in the United States National Cancer Data Base. METHODS: Patients with pT1/pT2 PC, treated with surgery as their primary treatment modality were classified into 3 groups according to the type of surgery into OSS, PP, and TP. Patient and tumor characteristics of the groups were compared using bivariate analysis, and Cox- proportional hazard model was used for survival analysis. RESULTS: A total of 4,238 patients were examined. There were 1,211, 2,360, and 584 patients in the OSS, PP, and TP groups, respectively. In 83 patients, the type of surgery was missing. The 5- and 10-year overall survival rates for OSS, PP, and TP were 88% and 74% vs. 85% and 72% vs. 79% and 63%, respectively (P ≤ 0.001). In addition, in a multivariable model for predictors of patient survival, OSS did not predict poor patient survival (hazard ratio = 0.88, CI: 0.64-1.21). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate, at national level, OSS in early stage PC provided comparable outcomes in selected patients compared to PP and TP. Also, organ preservation was not associated with any significant reduction in patient survival in early stage PC. Our results help with early stage PC patient informed treatment decisions and anticipated outcomes.