Survival effect of perioperative systemic chemotherapy on overall mortality in locally advanced and/or positive regional lymph node non-metastatic urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract

Radical Cystectomy vs. Multimodality Treatment in T2N0M0 Bladder Cancer: A Population-based, Age-matched Analysis

BACKGROUND

Controversy still exists regarding efficacy of multimodality treatment (MMT) vs. radical cystectomy (RC) for urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder (UCUB).

METHODS

Within the SEER database (2004-2016), we retrospectively identified patients with stage T2N0M0 UCUB. Competing risks regression (CRR) tested cancer-specific mortality (CSM) and adjusted for other-cause mortality after MMT vs. RC. Exact matching for age was applied. Subgroup analyses focused on differences in chemotherapy or lymph node dissection rates. In sensitivity analyses, we accounted for 40% understaging rate in patients who underwent MMT.

RESULTS

Of 9862 patients with T₂N₀M₀ UCUB, 2675 (27.1%) underwent MMT vs. 5751 (58.3%) RC vs. 1436 (14.6%) radiotherapy (RT) without chemotherapy. MMT rate increased (annually +3.0%, P < .01) and MMT patient age was significantly higher (median 77 years) than RC patient age (68 years). In exact age-matched analyses, 10-year CSM rates were 44.3% vs. 25.9% for MMT vs. RC (multivariate hazard ratio [HR] 0.48); 44.1% vs. 22.8% for MMT vs. RC with chemotherapy (HR 0.43); 40.5% vs. 31.1% for MMT vs. RC without lymph node dissection (HR 0.66), and 55.6% vs. 27.3% for RT without chemotherapy vs. RC (HR 0.37, all P < .001). Sensitivity analyses that addressed understaging of patients who underwent MMT resulted in virtually the same CSM rates.

CONCLUSION

In patents with T₂N₀M₀, MMT or even more so RT alone may be associated with higher CSM than RC, even in exact age-matched multivariate CRR analyses, which adjust for other-cause mortality. In consequence, patients with T2 UCUB should be informed of this possible CSM disadvantage outside of highly specialized centers.

Prognostic Nomograms for Nonelderly Adults with Gastric Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma

Background

Nomograms were established to predict the survival for gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (GSRC) in young and middle-aged adults. Material and Methods. Eligible patients with GSRC from 2004 to 2015 were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database and then divided into a training and a testing cohort in proportion. Independent prognostic factors were picked by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis to set up nomograms. The predictive effect and clinical value of nomograms were evaluated by the concordance index (C-index), calibration curves, and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC).

Results

A total of 1686 GSRC patients were subsumed into this case for analysis, including a training (n = 1180) and a testing cohort (n = 506). Independent risk factors related to overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) comprised of race, TNM stage, tumor size, number of positive lymph nodes (PLNE), and chemotherapy. For OS, the C-indexes of the training and testing cohorts were 0.737 and 0.752, while for CSS, C-indexes were, respectively, 0.749 and 0.751. These revealed that nomograms accurately predicted OS and CSS. Calibration curves and ROC demonstrated the apparent superiority of nomograms.

Conclusion

We built a well-understood and comprehensive prognostic assessment model for GSRC, which provided an individualized survival prediction in the form of a quantitative score that can be considered for clinical practice.

The nephroureterectomy: a review of technique and current controversies

The nephroureterectomy (NU) is the standard of care for invasive upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) and has been around for well over one hundred years. Since then new operative techniques have emerged, new technologies have developed, and the surgery continues to evolve and grow. In this article, we review the various surgical techniques, as well as present the literature surrounding current areas of debate surrounding the NU, including the lymphatic drainage of the upper urinary tract, management of UTUC involvement with the adrenals and caval thrombi, surgical management of the distal ureter, the use of intravesical chemotherapy as well as perioperative systemic chemotherapy, as well as various outcome measures. Although much has been studied about the NU, there still is a dearth of level 1 evidence and the field would benefit from further studies.

A Model for the Prediction of Survival in Patients With Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma After Surgery

Objective:

We aimed to formulate and validate prognostic nomograms that can be used to predict the prognosis of patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).

Methods:

By consulting the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, we identified patients who were surgically treated for UTUC between 2004 and 2013. Variables were analyzed in both univariate and multivariate analyses. Nomograms were constructed based on independent prognostic factors. The prognostic nomogram models were established and validated internally and externally to determine their ability to predict the survival of patients with UTUC.

Results:

A total of 4990 patients were collected and enrolled in our analyses. Of these, 3327 patients were assigned to the training set and 1663 to the validation set. Nomograms were effectively applied to predict the 3- and 5-year survivals of patients with UTUC after surgery. The nomograms exhibited better accuracy for predicting overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) than the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system and the SEER stage in both the training and validation sets. Calibration curves indicated that the nomograms exhibited high correlation to actual observed results for both OS and CSS.

Conclusions:

The nomogram models showed stronger predictive ability than the TNM staging system and the SEER stage. Precise estimates of the prognosis of UTUC might help doctors to make better treatment decisions.