Daniele Urzì

Increase of Framingham cardiovascular disease risk score is associated with severity of lower urinary tract symptoms

To determine the relationship between lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS)/benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 10‐year risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) assessed by the Framingham CVD risk score in a cohort of patients without previous episodes of stroke and/or acute myocardial infarction.

Emerging links between non-neurogenic lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic obstruction, metabolic syndrome and its components: A systematic review.

We carried out a systematic review in order to determine the connection between lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to bladder outlet obstruction and metabolic syndrome with its components. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Review and Web of Science from their inception until January 2015 to identify all eligible studies on the effect of metabolic syndrome (or component factors) on the presence or severity of lower urinary tract symptoms/bladder outlet obstruction in men. This analysis was carried out according to the STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology guidelines. In total, 19 studies were identified as eligible for this systematic review. The quality assessment score was ≥50% in more than half of the studies (11/19). The evidence synthesis showed a positive association between metabolic syndrome, number of components and lower urinary tract symptoms/bladder outlet obstruction. In particular, the major endocrine aberrations of this connection are central obesity and hypertriglyceridemia. The links between insulin resistance and lower urinary tract symptoms/bladder outlet obstruction should be better investigated. Ethnic disparities in all examined studies showed a different impact of metabolic syndrome on lower urinary tract symptoms/bladder outlet obstruction severity and such influence still remain unclear. The relationship between metabolic syndrome and lower urinary tract symptoms/bladder outlet obstruction open the way for introducing physical activity and diet as recognized first‐line interventions for treating lower urinary tract symptoms. However, this connection should be investigated in two different ethnic cohorts (i.e. Asian vs Caucasian) in order to better understand the impact of ethnic disparities on metabolic syndrome and lower urinary tract symptoms/bladder outlet obstruction severity.

Connections between lower urinary tract symptoms related to benign prostatic enlargement and metabolic syndrome with its components: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract A significant amount of epidemiological evidences have underlined an emerging link between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to benign prostatic enlargement a (BPE). We aimed to assess the connections between LUTS and MetS with its components. Meta-analysis were conducted to determine the mean differences (MD) and confidence intervals of IPSS total score, IPSS-voiding, IPSS-storage and prostate volume (PV) in patients with or without MetS. Ln(odds-ratio) were calculated to estimate the risk of having moderate-to-severe LUTS (IPSS ≥ 8). Nineteen studies were identified as eligible for this systematic review, with a total of 18,476 participants, including 5554 (30.06%) with and 12 922 (69.94%) without MetS. Pooled analysis did not demonstrate significant MD of IPSS, IPSS-voiding and IPSS-storage in men with or without MetS but PV was significantly different (MD = 2.18; p = 0.03). Presence of MetS was not significantly associated with moderate-to-severe LUTS (odds ratio = 1.13; p = 0.53) and only altered serum triglycerides and diabetes were associated with this risk. The association between MetS and LUTS/BPE remain unclear and further observational studies in a population with metabolic disorders should be conducted in order to address its potential role in determining LUTS/BPE.

Percentage of cancer involvement in positive cores can predict unfavorable disease in men with low-risk prostate cancer but eligible for the prostate cancer international: active surveillance criteria

OBJECTIVES To identify predictive factors of unfavorable disease and of biochemical failure in patients treated with radical prostatectomy but eligible for active surveillance (AS) according to Prostate Cancer Research International: Active Surveillance (PRIAS) criteria. We aimed to introduce and validate the percentage of cancer involvement in positive cores (CIPC) as potential worse predictive factor. METHODS From January 2002 to December 2007, 750 consecutive subjects underwent radical prostatectomy at a single institution. We identified 147 (19.05%) patients who were eligible for AS based on PRIAS criteria: clinical stage T1c or T2 disease, prostate-specific antigen level of ≤ 10 ng/ml, Gleason score ≤ 6, prostate-specific antigen-D of<0.2 ng/ml(2), and fewer than 3 positive biopsy cores. CIPC was included in the analysis. RESULTS Of the 147 patients, 95 (66.43%) patients had favorable disease, whereas 48 (33.57%) had unfavorable disease. In multivariate logistic regression, maximum cancer length (odds ratio 12.52, P<0.01) and CIPC (odds ratio 1.70, P<0.01) represented independent predictors of unfavorable prostate cancer. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve analysis revealed significantly higher performance after including CIPC to the PRIAS criteria (0.61 vs. 0.94, P<0.01). A cutoff of 0.4mm of CIPC was set to predict unfavorable disease with 93% specificity, 76% sensibility, and 87% accuracy based on the receiver operating characteristics curve analysis. Finally, the 3- and 5-years biochemical recurrence (BCR)-free survival were significantly lower in subjects with CIPC ≥ 0.4mm, 88.4 % and 81.0% vs. 97.8% and 95.7%, respectively (P< 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that the inclusion of CIPC to the prostate biopsy features could be helpful to avoid misclassification in patients eligible for AS according to the PRIAS criteria.

Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, a biomarker in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer: a single-institutional longitudinal study

ABSTRACT Background: Bladder cancer represents one of the most important clinical challenges in urologic practice. In this context, inflammation has an important role in the development and progression of many malignancies. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic value of pre-treatment Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on the risk of recurrence and progression in patients with primary non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Materials and Methods: Data obtained from 178 bladder cancer patients who underwent transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURB) between July 2008 and December 2014 were evaluated prospectively. NLR was obtained from each patient before TURB and defined as the absolute neutrophil count divided by the absolute lymphocyte count. Cox proportional hazards regression model was performed to calculate disease recurrence and progression including NLR. Results: During the follow-up study (median: 53 months), 14 (23.3%) and 44 (37.9%) (p=0.04) patients respectively with NLR<3 and ≥3experienced recurrence and 2 (3.3%) and 14 (11.9%) experienced progression (p=0.06), respectively. At the multivariate Cox regression analysis, NLR ≥3 was associated with worse disease recurrence (HR: 2.84; p<0.01). No association was found regarding disease progression. The 5-year recurrence free survival was 49% and 62% in patients with NLR≥3 and <3 (p<0.01). The 5-year progression free survival was 77% and 93% in patients with NLR≥3 and <3 (p=0.69). Conclusion: NLR predicts disease recurrence but not disease progression in NMIBC patients. NLR alterations may depend of tumor inflammatory microenvironment.

Association between metabolic syndrome and intravesical prostatic protrusion in patients with benign prostatic enlargement and lower urinary tract symptoms (MIPS Study)

To investigate the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and morphological features of benign prostatic enlargement (BPE), including total prostate volume (TPV), transitional zone volume (TZV) and intravesical prostatic protrusion (IPP).

Prevalence of Intratubular Germ Cell Neoplasia and Multifocality in Testicular Germ Cell Tumors ≤ 2 cm: Relationship With Other Pathological Features

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of TIN and multifocality in men undergoing radical orchiectomy for testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT), and among those with a main tumor size ≤ 2 cm, potentially eligible for testis-sparing surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS Orchiectomy specimens from 126 consecutive patients treated for TGCT tumor between 2003 and 2012 were included. Multifocality was defined as a distinct tumor focus with a diameter ≥ 1 mm separable from the main tumor mass. Uni- and multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify the association between pathological variables and multifocality and to identify variables for predicting clinical stage II to III and pathological stage ≥ pT2. RESULTS Of the 126 patients, 103 (82.0%) had clinical stage I cancer at presentation and 23 (18.0%) had clinical stage II to III. The median size of the primary tumor mass was 3.7 cm (range, 0.5-12 cm) in multifocality and 3.0 cm (range, 0.6-8.0 cm) in monofocality, respectively (P < .05). The prevalence of multifocality and TIN was lower in the presence of a smaller main tumor mass (≤ 1 cm) compared with tumors 1.1 to 2.0 cm (P < .05), and increased when the index mass tumor diameter was ≥ 2 cm (P trend < .05). No association was found between tumor histology and multifocality (P = .95) or TIN (P = .54) using the χ(2) test. CONCLUSION The prevalence of multifocality and TIN was decreased in smaller tumors (≤ 1 cm) and increased when the index mass tumor diameter was ≥ 1.1 cm.

Pharmacological Role of Dietary Polyphenols in Prostate Cancer Chemoprevention

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common solid neoplasm and it is now recognized as one of the most important medical problems facing the male population. Due to its long latency and its identifiable pre-neoplastic lesions, prostate cancer is an ideal target tumor for chemoprevention. Different compounds of dietary origin are available on the market and certainly polyphenols such as epigallocatechin-3-gallate, curcumin, resveratrol, and the flavonoids quercetin and genistein represent those with supposed efficacy against PCa. As shown by many reports on PCa, the use of natural compounds could act against oxidative stress chronic inflammation. Basic research studies have revealed that polyphenols appear to act not only against oxidative stress but also impede pro-neoplastic cancer cell signaling. Although the current studies are limited, mechanisms of action of polyphenols have been confirmed, showing a promising future strategy in prostate cancer chemoprevention.

Predicting survival in node-positive prostate cancer after open, laparoscopic or robotic radical prostatectomy: A competing risk analysis of a multi-institutional database.

To investigate cancer‐specific mortality and other‐cause mortality in prostate cancer patients with nodal metastases.

Adherence to Mediterranean diet and prostate cancer risk in Sicily: population-based case–control study

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer and the sixth leading cause of death from cancer worldwide. Countries following a Mediterranean-type dietary pattern, has been reported to have lower PCa incidence and mortality compared with other European regions. A population-based case–control study has been conducted from January 2015 to December 2016 in a single institution of the municipality of Catania, southern Italy. A total of 118 PCa and 238 population-based controls were collected. Controls had significantly higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet, which was evident for several subgroups (including age groups, overweight and obese men, current smokers, alcohol intake, low and medium physical activity levels). PCa cases were found to consume lower amount of vegetables (223 g/d vs. 261 g/d; p = 0.001), legumes (34.26 g/d vs. 53.55 g/d; p = 0.003), and fish (47.75 g/d vs. 58.3 g/d) than controls; other differences emerged were related to alcohol intake (12.37 g/d vs 5.07 g/d; p < 0.01), cereals (254.06 g/d vs.235.94 g/d; p < 0.001), dairy (196 g/d vs. 166 g/d; p < 0.001), and meat consumption (98.09 g/d vs. 70.15 g/d; p < 0.001). However, no statistically significant differences between cases and controls were found regarding fruit, legumes, and olive oil consumption. The Mediterranean diet score was inversely associated with lower likelihood of having PCa in a linear manner (odds ratio [OR]: 0.86 [95% CI 0.77–0.96]). Specifically, individuals in the highest group of adherence had 78% less likelihood of have PCa and 14% less likelihood for each point increase of the score. The model adjusted for total polyphenol intake showed still a significant inverse association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and PCa, but the relation was no more linear and not significant for one-point increase of the score (OR: 0.88 [95% CI 0.77–1.01]). In our cohorts of Italian men, we observed that high adherence to the Mediterranean diet was inversely associated with likelihood of having PCa cancer.