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Objectives To elucidate the differences in clinical practice between the USA and Japan in major types of uro-oncological surgery by a head-to-head comparison of national databases in the two countries. Methods We compared variations in surgical modality, length of stay, total charges, caseload centralization, transfusion incidence, and in-hospital mortality between the two countries for four major types of uro-oncological surgery (radical prostatectomy, radical cystectomy, nephrectomy and nephroureterectomy) in 2011. Additionally, the chronological changes in surgical modalities were investigated for 2009-11. The national estimates were based on data from the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database and the US National Inpatient Sample. Results For radical prostatectomy, radical cystectomy, nephrectomy and nephroureterectomy, minimally-invasive surgery accounted for 24.2% versus 70.2%, 0% versus 14.0%, 50.7% versus 30.7% and 50.2% versus 30.5%, respectively, in Japan versus the USA in 2011. Although minimally-invasive surgery has become increasingly frequent in both countries, the major procedures were robot-assisted surgery in the USA and laparoscopic surgery in Japan. The USA was generally characterized by a slightly younger age at operation, far higher hospital volume, a shorter length of stay, higher charges and less use of transfusion than Japan. Conclusions The findings suggest substantial differences between the USA and Japan regarding clinical practices in uro-oncological surgery. Standing at the beginning of robotic surgery era in Japan, the precise recognition of these differences will aid a proper understanding of clinical practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, Japanese national insurance started covering robot-assisted surgery. We carried out a population-based comparison between robot-assisted and three other types of radical prostatectomy to evaluate the safety of robot-assisted prostatectomy during its initial year. We abstracted data for 7202 open, 2483 laparoscopic, 1181 minimal incision endoscopic, and 2126 robot-assisted radical prostatectomies for oncological stage T3 or less from the Diagnosis Procedure Combination database (April 2012-March 2013). Complication rate, transfusion rate, anesthesia time, postoperative length of stay, and cost were evaluated by pairwise one-to-one propensity-score matching and multivariable analyses with covariants of age, comorbidity, oncological stage, hospital volume, and hospital academic status. The proportion of robot-assisted radical prostatectomies dramatically increased from 8.6% to 24.1% during the first year. Compared with open, laparoscopic, and minimal incision endoscopic surgery, robot-assisted surgery was generally associated with a significantly lower complication rate (odds ratios, 0.25, 0.20, 0.33, respectively), autologous transfusion rate (0.04, 0.31, 0.10), homologous transfusion rate (0.16, 0.48, 0.14), lower cost excluding operation (differences, -5.1%, -1.8% [not significant], -10.8%) and shorter postoperative length of stay (-9.1%, +0.9% [not significant], -18.5%, respectively). However, robot-assisted surgery also resulted in a + 42.6% increase in anesthesia time and +52.4% increase in total cost compared with open surgery (all P < 0.05). Introduction of robotic surgery led to a dynamic change in prostate cancer surgery. Even in its initial year, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy was carried out with several favorable safety aspects compared to the conventional surgeries despite its having the longest anesthesia time and the highest cost., (© 2014 The Authors. Cancer Science published by Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd on behalf of Japanese Cancer Association.)

Purpose: In this study we used nationwide population based data to compare perioperative outcomes, including severe bladder injury, between monopolar and bipolar transurethral resection of bladder tumors., Materials and Methods: Data of patients with clinical T2 or less bladder cancer who underwent monopolar or bipolar transurethral bladder tumor resection were collected from 788 hospitals in the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database 2007-2012. One-to-one propensity score matching was performed. End points assessed were severe bladder injury requiring placement of a drainage tube or repair surgery within 3 postoperative days, hemostasis procedures consisting of clot removal or transurethral coagulation within 3 postoperative days, transfusion, other complications, anesthesia duration, postoperative length of stay and total costs. Multivariate analyses compared outcomes of bipolar and monopolar transurethral bladder tumor resection with gender, age, Charlson comorbidity index, clinical stage, hospital volume and hospital academic status as covariates., Results: A total of 8,188 pairs were generated. Compared with monopolar transurethral bladder tumor resection, bipolar resection was associated with a significantly lower incidence of severe bladder injury (0.3% vs 0.6%, OR 0.57), other complications (4.6% vs 5.8%, OR 0.78), slightly shorter postoperative stay (mean 6.4 vs 6.7 days, difference -3.3%) and slightly lower total costs (mean $4,628 vs $4,727; difference -1.1%, all p <0.05). There were no differences in postoperative hemostasis procedures, transfusion and anesthesia duration., Conclusions: Bipolar transurethral bladder tumor resection was associated with a substantially lower incidence of several perioperative complications including severe bladder injury. The findings support the benefit of bipolar transurethral bladder tumor resection over monopolar resection in real-world clinical practice., (Copyright © 2014 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Preoperative nomograms can accurately predict the rate of biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy. Although these nomograms were shown to be valid in several external validation cohorts of Caucasian patients, they have not been validated in non-Caucasian patients from Asian countries. We therefore validated these preoperative nomograms in a Japanese cohort, using different cutoff values of prostate-specific antigen concentrations for biochemical recurrence., Methods: We analyzed 637 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer at the Tokyo Medical University Hospital between February 2000 and January 2011. We evaluated two prostate-specific antigen cutoff values for biochemical recurrence, 0.2 and 0.4 ng/ml. Using c-index and calibration plots, we validated the previously developed Kattan and Stephenson nomograms., Results: Overall, the mean 5-year non-biochemical recurrence rate was 72 ± 4%. Using a prostate-specific antigen cutoff values of 0.2 and 0.4 ng/ml, the c-indices for the Kattan nomogram were 0.714 and 0.733. Similarly, using a prostate-specific antigen cutoff values of 0.2 and 0.4 ng/ml, the c-indices for the Stephenson nomograms were 0.717 and 0.671. The calibration plots showed that the predictive value of the Stephenson nomogram at a prostate-specific antigen cutoff of 0.2 ng/ml was close to the actual outcomes compared with other combinations of nomograms and prostate-specific antigen cutoff levels., Conclusions: Because the c-indices of both nomograms were generally high, these nomograms can be applied to our cohort. The addition of biopsy information did not markedly improve the c-index but resulted in good calibration, indicating that the Stephenson nomogram may be a better fit for our patient cohort.