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Purpose Renal function is frequently impaired in the patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma. We aimed to evaluate the impact of renal function and its change after surgery on survival rates in patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma after nephroureterectomy. Methods The study cohort comprised 755 patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma who underwent nephroureterectomy between 1995 and 2016 at nine hospitals in Japan. Estimated glomerular filtration rate was calculated using the three-variable Japanese equation for glomerular filtration rate estimation from serum creatinine level and age. Outcomes were recurrence-free, cancer-specific and overall survivals. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used. Results Median patients’ age was 72 years old. Pre- and post-surgical median estimated glomerular filtration rate were 55.5 and 42.9 ml/min/1.73 m2, respectively. Median estimated glomerular filtration rate decline after surgery, which represents function of the affected side kidney, was 13.1 ml/min/1.73 m2. The 5-year recurrence-free, cancer-specific and overall survivals were 68.3, 79.4 and 74.0%, respectively. Multivariate analysis indicated that lower preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate and estimated glomerular filtration rate decline were associated with poorer recurrence-free, cancer-specific and overall survivals, but post-operative estimated glomerular filtration rate was not. Estimated glomerular filtration rate decline was more significant poor-prognosticator than preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate. Proportions of the patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate Conclusions Lower preoperative renal function, especially of the affected side kidney, was significantly associated with poor prognosis after nephroureterectomy for upper tract urothelial carcinoma. Many patients with locally advanced disease have reduced renal function at diagnosis and even more after surgery.

For the past decade, sarcopenia has been actively investigated in various cancers, including urothelial carcinoma (UC). Although skeletal muscle index (SMI) is the main parameter used to evaluate sarcopenia in oncology, the optimal definition of SMI-based sarcopenia is not entirely standardized. We recently highlighted the potential limitations of current definitions of SMI-based sarcopenia in another journal. In this study, we reviewed studies that assessed sarcopenia in UC patients. We then performed a comparative validation of three major SMI-based definitions of sarcopenia, including Prado's, the international and Martin's definitions in metastatic UC patients. We believe that the standardization of the sarcopenia definition is an urgent issue in oncology, and this paper discusses a possible new direction to address this issue.

Although radical prostatectomy and external beam radiotherapy are recognized as comparable treatment options for localized prostate cancer, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) as the leading respective techniques have yet to be compared.We retrospectively analyzed 860 patients with cT1-4N0M0 prostate cancer who underwent RARP (n = 500) or VMAT (n = 360) between 2011 and 2016. Biochemical recurrence-free survival (bRFS; two consecutive prostate-specific antigen measurements ≥0.2 ng/ml for RARP and Phoenix definition for VMAT) and radiological recurrence-free survival (rRFS; radiologically diagnosed distant metastasis or local recurrence) were compared between the two modalities. Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariate analysis.The median follow-up durations were 30 and 47.5 months, and median ages were 67 and 71 years (both P 0.0001) in the RARP and VMAT groups, respectively. VMAT patients had significantly better bRFS than RARP patients, though their definitions of biochemical recurrence differed. If a unified definition of biochemical recurrence (two consecutive prostate-specific antigen measurements ≥0.2 ng/ml) was applied, RARP patients had significantly better bRFS than VMAT patients. Regarding rRFS, RARP patients had significantly better outcomes than VMAT patients, however, multivariate analysis together with D'Amico's risk classification, age-adjusted Charlson's comorbidity index, and concomitant androgen-deprivation therapy, demonstrated no significant difference between RARP and VMAT.The rRFS outcomes of RARP and VMAT after a medium-term follow-up period were similar, despite their different patient backgrounds. Further studies with a longer follow-up period are needed to compare these techniques in terms of cancer-specific and overall survivals.

In Greenland, tidewater glaciers discharge turbid subglacial freshwater into fjords, forming plumes near the calving fronts. To evaluate the effects of this discharge on the zooplankton community in the fjords, we collected sea surface zooplankton samples in Bowdoin Fjord in north-western Greenland during the summer of 2016 and made microscopic, OPC and ZooScan analyses. Within the three quantitative methods, ZooScan has advantages that can evaluate various parameters (e.g., abundance, biomass, size and taxonomic information) simultaneously and has the ability to eliminate abiotic particles, such as silt and sediment, which are abundant in samples. Based on taxonomic biomass data, the zooplankton community is clustered into three groups, which varied spatially: inner, middle and outer fjord groups. Jellyfish dominated the outer fjord group, and barnacle cypris larvae dominated the middle fjord group. For the inner fjord group, large-sized Calanus spp. and chaetognaths were abundant. Since these species are characterized with oceanic taxa, they would intrude through the deep fjord water and subsequently be upwelled through entrainment of glacially modified plume water. From the NBSS analysis on zooplankton size spectra, the steep slope of NBSS in the middle fjord community suggests that the high productivity was caused by the addition of meroplanktonic cypris larvae.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious postoperative complication that occurs following laparoscopic surgery. However, its association with robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP), the gold standard surgery for prostate cancer, is controversial. The current cohort included 257 patients with prostate cancer who underwent either RARP (n=187) or open radical prostatectomy (ORP; n=70). Patient serum creatinine concentration was measured at the following six time points: Prior to surgery, on postoperative day 0 (immediately after surgery), on postoperative day 1, 3 months after surgery, 1 year after surgery and 2 years after surgery. AKI was diagnosed according to the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria. A total of 25 RARP and 0 ORP patients met the KDIGO criteria on postoperative day 0. On postoperative day 1, 3 RARP and 2 ORP patients met the criteria, suggesting that AKI after RARP was a transient phenomenon. At 1 and 2 years after surgery, 5 of 257 patients exhibited a significant increase in serum creatinine concentrations from baseline results. Clinicians should be aware of transient AKI occurring after RARP, rather than ORP, to ensure better perioperative management in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy.

Background While the new Gleason grade grouping (GGG), which started in 2016, has been widely validated in prostate cancer, it does not incorporate the concept of tertiary Gleason pattern 5. Furthermore, no study has “quantified” the individual risk of each Gleason pattern, including tertiary Gleason pattern 5, after radical prostatectomy. Methods We reviewed 1022 men with adjuvant-treatment-naïve prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy between 2005 and 2017. The primary endpoint was biochemical recurrence-free survival, defined as two consecutive prostate-specific antigen measurements ≥0.2 ng/ml after surgery. The individual quantitative risk score (IQRS) of each amount (primary/secondary/tertiary) of each Gleason pattern (3/4/5) was calculated using the Cox regression model. On the basis of the IQRS, the modified Gleason grade grouping (mGGG) model was developed. As a robustness analysis of the mGGG model, salvage treatment-free survival was also assessed. Results During a median follow-up of 45 months, 229 of 1022 (22.4%) patients developed biochemical recurrence. The IQRS of each Gleason pattern was as follows: primary 5, 1.81 points (hazard ratio [HR] 6.13); secondary 5, 1.37 points (HR 3.92); tertiary 5, 0.87 points (HR 2.39); primary 4, 1.07 points (HR 2.91); secondary 4, 0.79 points (HR 2.21); and any Gleason pattern 3, 0 points (HR 1). Based on the IQRS, the mGGG model was developed, which classified patients into the following five groups: I (3 + 3 or less); II (3 + 4); III (4 + 3); IV (3 + 4 + t5, 4 + 3 + t5, 3 + 5, 5 + 3, and 4 + 4); V (4 + 4 + t5, 4 + 5, 5 + 4, and 5 + 5). The c-index for biochemical recurrence-free survival was significantly improved from 0.655 of the original GGG model to 0.672 of the mGGG model (P P Conclusions The quantitative risk of tertiary (

To evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant systemic chemotherapy for locally advanced (pT3-4pN0/xM0) upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 109 patients with pT3-4pN0/xM0 UTUC who had undergone radical nephroureterectomy between 1996 and 2013 at our four institutions. The patients were divided into two groups: those who received adjuvant chemotherapy (AC group) and those who did not (surgery-alone: SA group). All chemotherapy regimens were cisplatin-based. Cox proportional hazards regression models addressed the associations between clinicopathological factors and recurrence-free survival (RFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). Forty-three (39.5%) out of the 109 patients underwent one to four cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy after nephroureterectomy. Median follow-up was 46.5 months. There were no significant differences in the background characteristics of the two groups, except for age. Recurrence developed in 11 (25.6%) and 29 (43.9%) patients in the AC and SA groups, respectively. Ultimately, six (14.0%) and 18 (27.3%) patients in the AC and SA groups, respectively, died of disease progression. On univariate analysis, hydronephrosis, nuclear grade, lymphovascular invasion, and adjuvant chemotherapy were significantly associated with both RFS and CSS. Charlson comorbidity index was associated only with CSS. On multivariate analysis, adjuvant chemotherapy was the only independent factor associated with improved RFS (p = 0.0178, HR = 0.41). Moreover, adjuvant chemotherapy (p = 0.0375, HR = 0.33), lower nuclear grade (p = 0.0070), and the absence of hydronephrosis (p = 0.0493) were independently associated with better CSS. Locally advanced (pT3-4pN0/xM0) UTUC patients who underwent cisplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy demonstrated better RFS and CSS than those without adjuvant chemotherapy.

Small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder (SCCB) is known for its aggressive clinical features and poor prognosis. No prognostic factor has been established so far. The aim of this study was to assess the significance of possible prognostic factors, including serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE), an established biomarker for small cell lung carcinoma. We retrospectively reviewed 31 patients with primary SCCB treated at our eight affiliate institutions between 2001 and 2014. The association of various clinicopathological factors at diagnosis, including the serum NSE value, with cancer-specific survival (CSS) was assessed. The log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model were used for univariate and multivariate analyses, respectively. Nineteen (61.3 %) died of SCCB during the follow-up, with a median survival time of 12.7 months. Prognostic factors were analyzed for the 25 patients after excluding six with missing data. Univariate analysis demonstrated that stage (extensive disease) and serum NSE ≥25 ng/ml were significantly associated with worse CSS. Multivariate analysis identified increased serum NSE value as a sole independent predictor of CSS (hazard ratio 18.52, p = 0.0022). Serum NSE value at diagnosis was an independent prognostic factor for primary SCCB and may serve as a useful biomarker in the management of SCCB.

We report a 59-year-old male patient with metastatic small cell carcinoma of the bladder treated with systemic chemotherapy including an amrubicin. The patient was referred to our hospital complaining of macrohematuria. A cytoscopy revealed a non-papillary, broad-based tumor extending from the right to the posterior wall of the bladder. A computed tomography showed bilateral hydronephrosis caused by the bladder tumor and multiple metastases to the para-aortic and common iliac lymph nodes. The histopathological findings following a transurethral resection of the bladder tumor revealed a T2N3M1, LYM, stage IV small cell carcinoma. We administered two courses of systemic chemotherapy consisting of cisplatin (CDDP) plus an etoposide (VP-16), a first-line treatment usually administered to patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung. We then administered second-line chemotherapy consisting of CDDP plus an irinotecan. When the first and second-line therapies failed to halt progression of the disease, we decided to use amrubicin as the third-line therapy concomitant with radiotherapy for local control. Although the NSE (neuron-specific enolase) value decreased, the patient died 11 months after the initial examination. To our knowledge, this is the first case in which small cell carcinoma of the bladder was treated with amrubicin.

Collecting (Bellini) duct carcinoma of the kidney is a rare lethal tumor, and its prognostic factors remain unclear. The present study investigated the prognostic significance of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, which has recently been recognized as a readily available prognostic marker in various malignancies, in patients with collecting duct carcinoma. Of 11 patients who were pathologically diagnosed with collecting duct carcinoma at our institution, nine died of collecting duct carcinoma, one died of a postoperative complication, and one was alive, with a median follow-up period of 6 (range: 0-97) months. Both univariate and multivariate analyses associated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio ≥4 (median) with worse cancer-specific survival. Notably, the sole surviving patient maintained a low neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (

e12001 Background: Tamoxifen is a selective estrogen receptor modulator that is widely used to treat estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. However, not all patients benefit from the incorporation of tamoxifen into an adjuvant therapy. This is also the case when tamoxifen is used in chemoprevention, since only half of participants benefit from the drug. In order to improve treatment response, we attempted to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that correlated with tamoxifen efficacy. Methods: ER-positive breast cancer patients at our hospital were enrolled on this study between January 2007 and September 2010. The primary endpoint was ER-positive breast cancer-free survival. We examined 17 SNPs in these patients. The survival benefit associated with each genotype was determined with a log-rank test, and the hazard ratio was analyzed using a Cox proportional-hazards model. Results: The median follow-up time of the 320 patients enrolled on the study was 3298 days. Of 240 patients who received any endocrine therapy, ER-positive breast cancer-free survival in patients with the 2q35 rs13387042 AA genotype was significantly shorter than in those who had the AG or GG genotype (p < 0.0001), and the hazard ratio was significantly higher (HR 8.83; 95% CI 2.09–25.53, p = 0.0064). Of the 145 patients who received tamoxifen therapy, there was a trend among ER-positive breast cancer patients with the CYP2C19 rs4917623 TT genotype to have a shorter disease-free period (p = 0.0635) when compared to patients with TC or CC genotypes. Similarly, there was a trend for the TT genotype patients to exhibit a higher hazard ratio (HR 2.62; 95% CI 0.86–7.55, p = 0.0861). Conclusions: The rs4917623 SNP in the CYP2C19 gene, which encodes a metabolic enzyme, predicts tamoxifen efficacy. This finding will facilitate selection of ER-positive breast cancer patients for tamoxifen treatment; it may also be useful for selection of patients most likely to benefit from tamoxifen-dependent chemoprevention.

Background The optimal timing of salvage radiotherapy for biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy is controversial. In particular, the prognostic significance of salvage radiotherapy delivered before a current definition of biochemical recurrence, i.e. ultra-early salvage radiotherapy, is unclear. Methods We reviewed 76 patients with pT2-3N0M0 prostate cancer who underwent salvage radiotherapy for post-prostatectomy biochemical recurrence at the following three timings: ultra-early salvage radiotherapy (n = 20) delivered before meeting a current definition of biochemical recurrence (two consecutive prostate-specific antigen [PSA] values ≥0.2 ng/mL); early salvage radiotherapy (n = 40) delivered after meeting the definition but before PSA reached 0.5 ng/mL; and delayed salvage radiotherapy (n = 16) delivered after PSA reached 0.5 ng/mL. The primary endpoint was failure of salvage radiotherapy, defined as a PSA value ≥0.2 ng/mL. The log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model were used for univariate and multivariate analyses, respectively. Results During the follow-up period (median: 70 months), four of 20 (20 %), nine of 40 (23 %) and seven of 16 (44 %) patients failed biochemically in the ultra-early, early and delayed salvage radiotherapy groups, respectively. On univariate analyses, the outcome of delayed salvage radiotherapy was worse than the others, while there was no significant difference between ultra-early and early groups. Multivariate analysis demonstrated the presence of Gleason pattern 5, perineural invasion and delayed salvage radiotherapy as independent predictors of poorer survival. Conclusions No survival benefit of ultra-early salvage radiotherapy was demonstrated, whereas delayed salvage radiotherapy was associated with worse outcome as reported in previous studies. Our results may support the current recommendations that salvage radiotherapy should be undertaken after two consecutive PSA values ≥0.2 ng/mL and before reaching 0.5 ng/mL.

Gleason pattern 5 (GP5), including tertiary GP5, at radical prostatectomy has reportedly been associated with poorer clinical outcome. However, it is undetermined how tertiary GP5 is handled in the new Gleason grade grouping starting in 2016, and its prognostic value in patients undergoing salvage treatment for postoperative biochemical recurrence (BCR) remains unclear.We retrospectively reviewed 116 patients with pT2-3N0M0 prostate cancer (PC) who received salvage treatment for BCR after radical prostatectomy between 2003 and 2014. The primary endpoint was failure of salvage treatment, defined as a single prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value ≥0.2 ng/ml after PSA nadir following salvage treatment. Associations of various clinicopathological factors, including GP5, with failure-free survival were assessed. Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariate analysis.Patients received salvage treatment with either radiotherapy (n = 48), androgen-deprivation therapy (n = 61), or both (n = 7) for BCR. Twenty-three patients (19.8 %) experienced failure of salvage treatment, with a median follow-up period of 79 months. Univariate analysis associated GP5, Gleason score-based parameters, lymphovascular invasion, and PSA doubling time 6 months with poorer failure-free survival. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses identified the area under the curve for GP5 (0.654) as the largest among those parameters (P = 0.0060). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that GP5 was the only independent predictor of poor outcome.The presence of GP5 is an independent predictor of poor prognosis in patients with pT2-3N0M0 PC undergoing salvage treatment for BCR after radical prostatectomy. GP5 may thus be a more useful marker than conventional Gleason score in this setting.