Predictive Factors for Residual Cancer in Second Transurethral Resection for Non-muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The significance of second transurethral resection (TUR), and identification of predictive factors for residual cancer remain unrevealed. This study aimed to find residual cancer and up-staging rates, as well as predictive factors for residual cancer, in patients who undergo second TUR for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients who underwent second TURs for NMIBC between 2015 and 2017, were included in the study and their clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed for predictors of residual cancer. RESULTS: Among 143 Japanese patients whose tumors were initially diagnosed as high-risk NMIBC, residual cancers detected at second TURs were, Tis: n=22 (15.4%), Ta: n=15 (10.5%) and T1: n=29 (20.3%). No patients showed up-staging from NMIBC to MIBC. The presence of carcinoma-in situ at initial TUR was an independent risk factor for any residual cancer (Tis, Ta and T1), non-flat residual cancer (Ta and T1), and flat residual cancer (Tis). CONCLUSION: The presence of carcinoma-in situ is suggested to be an independent predictor of residual cancer. This may help guide decisions to perform second TUR.

A rational risk assessment for intravesical recurrence in primary low-grade Ta bladder cancer: A retrospective analysis of 245 cases.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic impact of size and number of tumors in primary low-grade (LG) Ta bladder urothelial carcinoma (UC), and thus allow accurate risk stratification of low-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). This study was a retrospective analysis of 245 patients with primary LG Ta UC of the urinary bladder who were treated with transurethral resection. Differences in intravesical recurrence-free survival (RFS) according to various cutoff values of tumor size and tumor number were calculated using Cox proportional hazards model. Median maximum size of tumor was 1.4 cm, and 153 patients (62.4%) had solitary tumors. Forty-nine patients experienced intravesical recurrence during a median 34 months of follow-up. Patients with solitary tumors had significantly longer RFS times compared with those with ≥8 tumors (P=0.003). Patients with larger tumors had significantly shorter RFS times for each cutoff value (P=0.01 for 1.0 cm, P<0.0001 for 1.5 and 2.0 cm, P=0.006 for 3.0 cm). On multivariate analysis, each cutoff value of tumor size was found to be a predictor of RFS; among them, the cutoff of 1.5 cm showed the strongest association (hazard ratio, 4.12; 95% confidence interval, 2.11-8.81; P<0.001). If we consider only lower risk NMIBC patients, such as primary LG Ta, the appropriate cutoff value of tumor size to predict intravesical recurrence might be 1.5 cm, but not 3.0 cm generally adopted in various guidelines. These findings suggest the need for rational risk assessment with consideration of the diversity of patients with NMIBC.

Prognostic Significance of Preoperative Urine Cytology in Low-grade Non-muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer.

AIM: To examine the clinical significance of preoperative urine cytology in patients with low-grade bladder cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively investigated the records of 155 patients diagnosed with primary low-grade (Ta) urothelial carcinoma of the bladder between January 2000 and September 2014. RESULTS: Patients with class III or greater cytology had significantly higher-grade (G2) (p=0.01), larger tumors (≥15 mm, p=0.0009) and significantly shorter recurrence-free survival compared to patients with class II or lower cytology (p<0.0001). However, Cox proportional hazards analysis for recurrence-free survival only identified tumor size (≥15 mm) (hazard ratio=5.97, 95% confidence interval=2.39-17.29; p<0.0001) as a predictor of poor prognosis, although patients with class III or higher preoperative cytology showed a tendency towards frequent intravesical recurrence (hazard ratio=1.98, 95% confidence interval=0.96-4.2; p=0.063). CONCLUSION: Preoperative urine cytology, in addition to tumor size, might be a useful predictor of intravesical recurrence of bladder cancer.

[Clinical outcome in prostate cancer patients undergoing high-dose-rate brachytherapy with external beam radiotherapy in our institute].

OBJECTIVES: We investigate the biochemical control rates and adverse events for local and locally advanced prostate cancer patients undergoing high-dose-rate brachytherapy with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT + HDR-BT) in our institute. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From May 2004 through March 2010, 154 patients with local and locally advanced prostate cancer underwent EBRT + HDR-BT. One hundred thirteen patients with more than 6 months follow-up were evaluated. A median follow-up was 33 months. The patients consisted of 12 low-, 65 intermediate- and 36 high-risk patients. No patients received adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy with EBRT + HDR-BT. Biochemical freedom from failure (bFFF) was determined using the Phoenix definition. RESULTS: The 5-year bFFF rate was 100%, 94.7%, and 59.2% for low-, intermediate- and high-risk patients. The 58-month bFFF rate of high-risk patients with one ominous factor was significantly lower than that of high-risk patients with more than ominous two factors (87.4% vs 26.9%, p = 0.022). With respect to acute adverse events, transurethral electric coagulation was performed for vesical bleeding and tamponade after removal of applicator needles in only one patient. Regarding late adverse events 14.2% of patients had grade 3 genitourinary toxicity, mostly consisted of urethral stricture and 0.9% of patients had grade 3 gastrointestinal toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: EBRT + HDR-BT without adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy yields excellent bFFF in low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients. However, to challenge higher bFFF rate in a part of high-risk patients and lower rate of adverse events, modified designing protocols and therapeutic plannning of EBRT + HDR-BT may be necessary.