Urologic morbidity associated with placenta accreta spectrum surgeries: single-center experience with a multidisciplinary team.

BACKGROUND: Hysterectomy for placenta accreta spectrum may be associated with urologic morbidity, including intentional or unintentional cystostomy, ureteral injury, and bladder fistula. Although previous retrospective studies have shown an association between placenta accreta spectrum and urologic morbidities, there is still a paucity of literature addressing these urologic complications. OBJECTIVE: We sought to report a systematic description of such morbidity and associated factors. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective study of all histology-proven placenta accreta spectrum deliveries in an academic center between 2011 and 2020. Urologic morbidity was defined as the presence of at least one of the following: cystotomy, ureteral injury, or bladder fistula. Variables were reported as median (interquartile range) or number (percentage). Analyses were made using appropriate parametric and nonparametric tests. Multinomial regression analysis was performed to assess the association of adverse urologic events with the depth of placental invasion. RESULTS: In this study, 58 of 292 patients (19.9%) experienced urologic morbidity. Patients with urologic morbidity had a higher rate of placenta percreta (compared with placenta accreta and placenta increta) than those without such injuries. Preoperative ureteral stents were placed in 54 patients (93.1%) with and 146 patients (62.4%) without urologic injury (P=.003). After adjusting for confounding variables, multinomial regression analysis revealed that the odds of having adverse urologic events was 6.5 times higher in patients with placenta percreta than in patients with placenta accreta. CONCLUSION: Greater depth of invasion in placenta accreta spectrum was associated with more frequent and severe adverse urologic events. Whether stent placement confers any protective benefit requires further investigation.

C-stage in colon cancer: implications of carcinoembryonic antigen biomarker in staging, prognosis, and management.

BACKGROUND: The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) has proposed the inclusion of pretreatment serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level (C-stage) into the conventional TNM staging system of colon cancer. We assessed the prognosis of various stages of colon cancer after such an inclusion. METHODS: Data for all patients (N = 17 910) diagnosed with colonic adenocarcinoma (AJCC stages I, IIA, IIB, IIC, IIIA, IIIB, IIIC, and IV, based on TNM staging system) between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2004, with a median follow-up of 27 months (range 0-35 months), were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. C-stage (C0-stage = normal CEA level; C1-stage = elevated CEA level) was assigned to all patients with available CEA information (n = 9083). Multivariable analyses using Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify independent factors associated with prognosis. Prognosis of overall stages (AJCC stages I-IV and C0 or C1) was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS: C1-stage was independently associated with a 60% increased risk of overall mortality (hazard ratio of death = 1.60, 95% confidence interval = 1.46 to 1.76, P < .001). Overall survival was decreased in patients with C1-stage cancer compared with C0-stage cancer of the respective overall stages (P < .05). Similarly, decreased overall survival was noted in patients with stage I C1 cancer compared with stage IIA C0 or stage IIIA C0 cancer (P < .001), in patients with stage IIA C1 cancer compared with stage IIIA C0 (P < .001), and in patients with stage IIB C1 or stage IIC C1 cancer compared with stage IIIB C0 cancer (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: C-stage was an independent prognostic factor for colon cancer. The results support routine preoperative CEA testing and C-staging upon diagnosis of colon cancer and the inclusion of C-stage in the conventional TNM staging of colon cancer.