Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection may be Limited on the Contralateral Side in Strictly Unilateral Bladder Cancer without Compromising Oncological Radicality.

BACKGROUND: Results of a dynamic multimodality mapping study showed no lymphatic drainage of the lateral bladder wall to the contralateral internal iliac region. OBJECTIVES: To validate whether pathoanatomical mapping in bladder cancer (BC) patients can confirm these results. METHODS: Between 01/2000 and 07/2013, 825 BC patients preoperatively staged ≥pT1 and without clinical signs of metastases (cN0 cM0) underwent extended pelvic lymph node dissection (ePLND) and radical cystectomy at our department. Of these patients, 23% (193/825) were lymph node (LN) positive in the pathological specimen; 26% (51/193) of this subgroup had strictly unilateral BC. Pathoanatomical mapping was used to retrospectively validate the distribution of LN involvement in these 51 patients. RESULTS: A median of 35 LNs were removed per patient (range: 13-80 LNs), with a median of 2 positive LNs (range: 1-14 LNs). 27% (14/51) of patients presented with LN metastases on the contralateral side. No positive LNs were found in the contralateral internal iliac region or the contralateral fossa of Marcille. 10% (5/51) of patients had LN metastases only on the contralateral side without evidence of metastases on the tumor-bearing side. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings corroborate the data of a dynamic mapping study showing bilateral lymphatic drainage in almost one third of patients with strictly unilateral BC, but no lymphatic drainage from the lateral bladder wall to the contralateral internal iliac region. If prospective studies confirm these results, the contralateral internal iliac region may be omitted during ePLND in patients with strictly unilateral BC.

The eNOS 894G/T gene polymorphism and its influence on early and long-term mortality after on-pump cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: The eNOS 894G/T polymorphism (GG, GT, and TT) is associated with cardiovascular mortality and may influence cardiovascular diseases as a genetic risk factor. Moreover, this polymorphism has an impact on intraoperative hemodynamics during cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). In this study, we analyzed the influence of this gene polymorphism on early clinical outcome in patients who underwent cardiac surgery with CPB. Also, we performed a 5-year follow-up, assessing the impact of this polymorphism on long-term mortality. METHOD: 500 patients who underwent cardiac surgery with CPB between 2006 and 2007 were included in this prospective single centre study. Genotyping for the eNOS gene polymorphism was performed by polymerase chain reaction amplification. RESULTS: Genotype distribution of 894G/T was: GG 50.2%; GT 42.2%; TT 7.8%. Cardiovascular risk factors were equally distributed between the different genotypes of the eNOS 894G/T polymorphism. No significant difference among the groups was shown regarding Euroscore, SAPS II and APACHE II. Perioperative characteristics were also not affected by the genotypes, except for the consumption of norepinephrine (p = 0.03) and amiodarone (p = 0.01) which was higher in the GT allele carrier. The early postoperative course was quite uniform across the genotypes, except for mean intensive care unit length of stay which was significantly prolonged in GT carriers (p = 0.001). The five-year follow-up was 100% complete and showed no significant differences regarding mortality between the groups. CONCLUSION: Our results show that the eNOS 894G /T polymorphism is not associated with early and late clinical outcome after cardiac surgery. Thus, this polymorphism can actually not help to identify high risk groups in the heterogeneous population of individuals who undergo cardiac surgery with CPB.

Stricture of the afferent isoperistaltic tubular segment: a late and rare cause of bilateral dilation of the upper urinary tract after ileal bladder substitution.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the etiology and treatment of bilateral hydronephrosis not responding to bladder substitute drainage after ileal bladder substitution using an afferent isoperistaltic tubular segment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed of a consecutive series of 739 patients who had undergone bladder substitution from April 1985 to August 2012. RESULTS: Of the 739 ileal bladder substitute patients, 10 (1.4%) developed bilateral hydronephrosis unresponsive to complete bladder substitute drainage. The etiology was stenosis of the afferent isoperistaltic tubular segment. The median interval to presentation was 131 months (range 45-192). The incidence of afferent tubular segment stenosis was significantly higher in the 61 ileal bladder substitute patients with recurrent urinary tract infection (9 [15%]) than in the 678 without recurrent urinary tract infection (1 [0.15%]; P <.001). Urine cultures revealed mixed infections (34%), Escherichia coli (18%), Staphylococcus aureus (13%), enterococci (11%), Candida (8%), Klebsiella (8%), and others (8%). Seven patients underwent 10 endourologic interventions, only 1 of which was successful (10%). After failed endourologic treatment, 7 open surgical revisions with resection of the stricture were performed, with all 7 (100%) successful. CONCLUSION: Bilateral dilation of the upper urinary tract after ileal orthotopic bladder substitution unresponsive to complete bladder substitute drainage is likely to be caused by stenosis of the afferent isoperistaltic tubular segment. The stenosis occurs almost exclusively in patients with long-lasting, recurrent urinary tract infection and can develop many years after the ileal bladder substitution. Minimally invasive endourologic treatment is usually unsuccessful; however, open surgical revision offers excellent results.

Ureteroileal strictures after urinary diversion with an ileal segment-is there a place for endourological treatment at all?

PURPOSE: We compared the long-term results of minimally invasive endourological intervention and open surgical revision in patients with a nonmalignant ureteroileal stricture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the records of 74 patients (85 renal units) treated for unilateral or bilateral nonmalignant ureteroileal strictures. Overall, 96 endourological and 35 open surgical procedures were performed. Balloon dilatation and Acucise® or Ho:YAG laser endoureterotomy were used as minimally invasive endourological interventions. Open surgical revision with stricture resection and open ureteroileal end-to-side-reanastomosis was the alternate therapy. Treatment success was defined as radiological normalization or improvement of upper urinary tract morphology combined with absent flank pain, infection, ureteral stents or percutaneous nephrostomies. RESULTS: Median followup was 29 months (range 2 to 177). The overall success rate was 26% (25 of 96 cases) for endourological intervention vs 91% (32 of 35) for open surgical revision (p <0.001). Subgroup analysis showed a significant difference in the success rate of minimally invasive endourological interventions vs open surgical revision for strictures greater than 1 cm (3 of 52 cases or 6% vs 19 of 22 or 86%, p <0.001). The success rate of endourological and open surgical procedures for strictures 1 cm or less was 50% (22 of 44 cases) and 100% (13 of 13), respectively. After adjusting for multiple preoperative stricture characteristics, only stricture length was strongly and inversely associated with a successful outcome (p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Open surgical revision produces better results than minimally invasive endourological intervention for ureteroileal strictures, particularly those greater than 1 cm. The success rate of endourological intervention is acceptable only for ureteroileal strictures 1 cm or less. Therefore, ureteroileal strictures greater than 1 cm should be primarily managed by open surgical revision.