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Background/aim: Chronic periodontitis (CP) has already been associated with altered PSA values in men undergoing biopsy. This study addressed the impact of CP treatment on PSA screening., Patients and Methods: Fifty-two asymptomatic men presenting for CP treatment were prospectively enrolled. Total (t)PSA, free (f)PSA and %PSA were determined (n=47) before and after therapy. Pre- and post-therapy values were correlated pairwise regarding patients and dental characteristics., Results: Median age was 54 years (SD=±7.7 years) and mean tPSA was 1.3 ng/ml (±1.9 ng/ml). tPSA and fPSA correlated linearly and positively with age (p<0.002). After stratification by age, tPSA/fPSA remained significantly lower in smokers (p<0.05). No other patient or dental factor was associated with tPSA, fPSA, %PSA. CP therapy had no effect on PSA reduction and did not affect indication for biopsy., Conclusion: The potential influence of CP on PSA testing seems to be excludable in asymptomatic men., (Copyright© 2017, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Aim: To evaluate the Mayo Adhesive Probability (MAP) score, renal pelvis score, and RENAL nephrometry score for the prediction of surgical outcome in patients with renal masses undergoing laparoscopic partial nephrectomy at a single center., Patients and Methods: A total of 280 patients who underwent laparoscopic partial nephrectomy were identified retrospectively. Thirty-eight patients were excluded because of a lack of preoperative imaging. The outcome measures included surgical technique, patient characteristics, MAP score, renal-pelvis-score, RENAL nephrometry score, and complication rates according to the Clavien-Dindo classification. Regression analysis was performed for assessment of the predictive value of the given scores., Results: Complications occurred after 32 (13%) operations. There was a significant positive association between the development of complications and RENAL nephrometry score (p=0.003). Prediction of complications was improved by the RENAL nephrometry score [area under the curve (AUC) =0.675] and the MAP score (AUC=0.655): With an increasing MAP score, there was a significantly increased operative time (p=0.033). The renal pelvis score had a minor predicitive role (AUC=0.516) and no correlation was found with postoperative urine leakage., Conclusion: The MAP score and RENAL nephrometry score seem to be able to predict a complex or complicated intra- and postoperative course, while the renal pelvis score is not suitable for predicting postoperative complications, especially urine leakage., (Copyright© 2017, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Background: At experienced centers, laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) can achieve similar results to those of open surgery (OPN). However, the role of LPN for complex tumors and imperative indications is under debate., Patients and Methods: A total of 356 cases (186 LPN and 170 OPN) between 2005-2012 were reviewed. Clinical, surgical, pathological and radiological data, including PADUA classification were analyzed., Results: In overall analysis, OPN was associated with higher tumor complexity (p≤0.03). Subgroup analysis of PADUA >8 tumors (n=85) showed no significant difference between LPN and OPN. In patients with unfavorable treatment characteristics (imperative indication/multifocal tumors, n=71) LPN was beneficial. In this subgroup, LPN led to better perioperative (p≤0.02) and postoperative (p≤0.04) outcome., Conclusion: Use of LPN is associated with favorable tumor characteristics. Although no advantage was shown for LPN for tumors with higher complexity (PADUA>8), this large series confirmed the superiority of LPN for imperative indication or multifocal tumors., (Copyright© 2017 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.)

This review focused on technical advancements in the detection of CTCs/DTCs in urogenital cancer. Most of the established methods of circulating tumor cell enrichment use density-gradient centrifugation and immunomagnetic procedures. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is another detection technique. Novel methods, the CTC chip and the epithelial immunospot (EPISPOT) assay, have already shown promising results. For localized and metastatic prostate cancer, significant correlations between CTCs/DTCs and well-established indicators of disease activity have been demonstrated. Furthermore, various studies support the prognostic relevance of CTCs in metastatic bladder and renal cell carcinoma patients. Advanced technologies offer new options for estimating the risk of progression after curative-intended surgery and may allow a more effective monitoring of disease progression or response to therapy.

Background: It has been indicated that altered expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) promotes the invasive and metastatic potential of a variety of human malignancies. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine EGFR expression in clear cell renal cell carcinomas (RCC) to evaluate its prognostic relevance for the clinical course of the disease., Materials and Methods: EGFR protein expression, detected by immunohistochemistry and tissue microarray analysis (TMA), was investigated in a cohort of 149 randomly selected patients subjected to tumor nephrectomy for RCC., Results: The tumor cells preferably exhibited a homogeneous membrane-bound reactivity for EGFR; EGFR overexpression was detected in 70 (47%) of the primary tumor specimens, but in only 12 (9%) of the benign tissue samples (p<0.0001; Fisher's t-test). Tumor-associated EGFR staining was stratified into three groups: I: low staining score (n=75, 50%); II: intense expression (n=56, 38%); and III: strong overexpression (n = 18, 12%). Strong reactivity for EGFR was identified as predicting the patients' survival both during uni- and multivariate analysis (p=0.03). Interestingly, the overall survival of the intense expression group surpassed even the low expression group (p=0.023)., Conclusion: The observation that primary RCC specimens exhibit EGFR at higher levels when compared with benign renal parenchyma indicates its role in tumor development and progression. The availability of more refined prognostic factors would assist decision making in terms of the value of more aggressive treatment options for prognostically defined subgroups of patients. Additionally, if overexpression of EGFR identifies RCC with a more aggressive biological behavior, the latter receptor might serve as a novel target for a more effective therapeutical approach to RCC.