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The management of urinary tract stricture disease has evolved over the last several decades, with robotic surgery representing a bourgeoning method for urologic reconstruction. Conventionally, proximal and mid-ureteral strictures, as well as lengthy urethral strictures, have presented a challenge for surgeons to create tension-free repairs. Options for repair include endoscopic dilation, endopyelotomy, ureteroplasty or pyeloplasty, and urethroplasty. Small and large bowel can be incorporated into various urinary tract stricture repairs. Their use has proven successful in reconstructing both upper and lower urinary tract strictures and offers flexibility for complex cases such as lengthy or multifocal strictures. While the use of bowel, most notably the appendix, for stricture repair is not a novel concept, a growing body of evidence supports its use with minimally invasive robotic approaches. In addition, there has been a substantial amount of recent data suggesting low rates of postoperative complications and long progression-free survival after robotic stricture repair using small bowel or rectum. We present a comprehensive review of literature outlining the role of the small bowel, appendix, and rectum in the minimally invasive repair of urinary tract stricture disease, as well as a description of the various techniques employed.

Patients receiving palliative care (PC) can present with or develop a host of urological needs or complications. These needs can include attention to sexual health, urinary incontinence, genitourinary bleeding, and urinary tract obstruction by benign, malignant, or urinary stone diseases. These varied conditions require that PC clinicians understand invasive and noninvasive medical, surgical, and radiation options for treatment. This article, written by a team of urologists, geriatricians, and PC specialists, offers information and guidance to PC teams in an accessible "Top Ten Tips" format to increase comfort with and skills around assessment, evaluation, and specialist referral for urological conditions common in the PC setting.

Lymph node involvement in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) portends a poor prognosis. However, the role of lymph node dissection (LND) at the time of tumor resection is not fully understood. Conflicting data have been published regarding the survival implications of LND during RCC surgery, and the optimal patient population for which LND might be beneficial has yet to be identified. Based on recent data characterizing the outcomes of node-positive RCC, some have advocated for revising the current staging guidelines to better reflect these findings. Given the paucity of high-quality evidence supporting or refuting the routine use of LND in RCC, further research is needed to shed light on this important topic. There are a number of ongoing clinical trials evaluating the role of perioperative (neoadjuvant and adjuvant) systemic therapy, which include patients with node-positive RCC, and will serve to guide changes in treatment practices for this patient population moving forward.

2656 Background: Immunotherapy (IO) is associated with a variety of treatment related toxicities. However, the impact of toxicity on the treatment discontinuation rate between males and females is unknown. We hypothesized that immune related adverse events would lead to more frequent treatment changes in females since autoimmune diseases occur more frequently in females Methods: The Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) Avatar Database collects clinical data from ten different United States cancer centers, where patients receive IO. Of 1,035 patients receiving IO, 447 patients were analyzed, excluding those (N = 573) who did not have documentation noting if a patient changed treatment. 15 additional patients with an unknown or gender-specific cancer were excluded. All cancer types and stages were included. Primary endpoint was documented treatment change due to toxicity. Significance was calculated with logistic regression, linear regression, chi-squared test for categorical variables and Mann-Whitney U test for continuous nonparametric variables. Results: 447 patients (281 males and 166 females) received IO treatment for cancer. The most common cancers treated were kidney, skin, and lung for 99, 84, and 54 patients, respectively. Females had a shorter IO course compared to males on Mann-Whitney U test (median 3.7 vs 5.1 months, respectively, p=0.02) and multivariable linear regression (Beta -3.87, 95% CI -6.591, -1.149, p=0.005). 54 patients changed IO treatment due to toxicity. There was no significant difference in the rate of treatment change due to toxicity between females and males on chi-square test (11.4% vs. 12.5%, respectively, p = 0.75) and logistic regression (Table). Pembrolizumab, Nivolumab, Ipilimumab/Nivolumab, Ipilimumab, Durvalumab, Avelumab, and Atezolizumab were given to 16, 14, 9, 9, 3, 2 and 1 patients who changed treatment due to toxicity, respectively. The median length of time for IO treatment prior to change for toxicity was 3 months (IQR 1.4 – 5.9 months). Significantly more patients with COPD changed treatment due to toxicity (Table). Conclusions: Females received a shorter course of IO than males. However, there was no significant difference in the treatment discontinuation rate due to toxicity between males and females receiving IO. Toxicity related treatment change was associated with COPD. Studies with larger sample sizes with more granular data (i.e., type of adverse effects) are needed to truly characterize if a difference between genders and IO toxicity exists. [Table: see text]

Simple Summary Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common cancer of the kidney. Historically, patients with disease extending beyond the kidney had poor oncologic outcomes. However, discovery of the underlying causes of RCC and the creation of therapeutic agents to target these pathways has revolutionized the management of metastatic RCC. Application of these agents alone or in combination with surgery continue to show encouraging results. In this review, we explore the clinical trial landscape of metastatic RCC, specifically the clear cell type, with particular emphasis on current and upcoming trials utilizing immunotherapeutic agents. Abstract Patients with advanced or malignant renal cell carcinoma at the time of diagnosis have historically had a poor prognosis. Immunonologic agents have significantly altered the therapeutic landscape and clinical outcomes of these patients. In this review, we highlight recent and upcoming clinical trials investigating the role of immunotherapies in clear cell RCC. In particular, we emphasize immunotherapy-based combinations, including immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) combinations, neoadjuvant, and adjuvant ICI, and ICI agents combined with anti-VEGF therapy.

Clinically, the papillary (pRCC) and chromophobe (chRCC) histologic subtypes of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are viewed as more indolent compared to the more-common clear cell histology (ccRCC). However, there remain advanced cases of these purportedly less-aggressive histologies that lead to significant mortality. We therefore sought to evaluate outcomes of advanced pRCC and chRCC compared to ccRCC utilizing the National Cancer Database's registry of RCC patients.A total of 115,365 ccRCC patients, 28,344 pRCC patients, and 11,942 chRCC patients met eligibility criteria. Overall survival (OS) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method (median follow-up 3.6 years). OS was compared between stage III and IV ccRCC, pRCC, and chRCC using multivariable Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for clinical and treatment characteristics.A total of 25.7% of ccRCC patients, 14.1% of pRCC patients, and 14.8% of chRCC patients had stage III to IV disease. The 5-year OS for stage III ccRCC, pRCC, and chRCC was 66.9%, 63.6%, and 80.5%, respectively. The 5-year OS for stage IV ccRCC, pRCC and chRCC was 19.7%, 13.3%, and 22.0%, respectively. The hazard of death was significantly higher for stage IV pRCC vs. ccRCC (hazard ratio = 1.29; 95% confidence interval = 1.19, 1.39; P0.01) and similar for stage IV chRCC vs. ccRCC (hazard ratio = 1.01; 95% confidence interval = 0.85, 1.21; P = 0.885).pRCC and chRCC are rare but similarly fatal compared to ccRCC when advanced or metastatic. With most clinical trials devoted toward ccRCC, greater efforts to identify aggressive variants and treatment strategies for metastatic pRCC and chRCC are necessary.

Decreasing rupture rates after flexor tendon repair is accomplished by increasing the strength of the repair and by decreasing the forces across tendons during rehabilitation. The authors sought to determine whether A1 pulley release affects work of flexion after a zone 2 flexor tendon repair.Four fresh-frozen cadaveric hands were thawed to room temperature. The flexor digitorum profundus and flexor pollicis longus tendons were tested in a tensile testing machine. In hands 1 and 2, work of flexion of uninjured tendons was evaluated through the sequential division of the A1 pulley, starting with either the proximal 50 percent or the distal 50 percent of the pulley. In hands 3 and 4, zone 2 flexor digitorum profundus lacerations were created and repaired using a modified Kessler technique; then, sequential division of the A1 pulley was performed. Force-excursion curves were generated and used to calculate work of flexion. Analysis of variance was performed for multigroup comparisons, and t tests were performed for pairwise comparisons. Values of p0.05 were considered statistically significant.In uninjured tendons, work of flexion decreased with sequential division of the A1 pulley. After tendon repair, work of flexion increased significantly from baseline in all digits. A1 pulley release after flexor tendon repair produced significant decreases in work of flexion in all digits.A1 pulley release effectively decreases work of flexion after flexor tendon repair. Release performed at the time of tendon repair may decrease the forces across tendons in the postoperative period.

Enrollment of a representative study population permits generalizable and reliable results for clinical trials. We sought to evaluate whether patients enrolled in trials for advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are representative of the overall population of advanced RCC patients in the United States.The clinicaltrials.gov results database was queried for interventional clinical trials directed at clinically advanced (stage III/IV) RCC that enrolled patients from the US only. We identified 375 patients from 18 phase I to II trials that met eligibility criteria. The American College of Surgeons' National Cancer Database (NCDB) which includes data on approximately 70% of all US cancer diagnoses was queried and we identified 75,308 patients with advanced (stage III/IV) RCC. Demographic characteristics were summarized and compared between the 2 populations.Compared to the US population of advanced RCC (NCDB), significant under-representation in clinical trials was observed for patients aged 65+ (26.3% vs. 50.4%; P0.001) and among those with Hispanic ethnicity (2.7% vs. 7.2%; P = 0.005). A trend toward under-representation was observed for black patients (7.0% vs. 9.8%, P = 0.076) but not for white patients (89.9% vs. 87.0%, P = 0.107) or other racial groups (P0.05 for all). Female patients made up 30.3% of trial enrollees and 33.3% of the US advanced RCC population (P = 0.221).Significant under-representation was observed for elderly and Hispanic patients with a trend toward under-representation for black and female patients in phase I to II RCC clinical trials. Greater efforts to include underrepresented populations are necessary to improve the effectiveness and generalizability of clinical trials in kidney cancer.