Hakmin Lee

De Ritis ratio (aspartate transaminase/alanine transaminase ratio) as a significant prognostic factor after surgical treatment in patients with clear-cell localized renal cell carcinoma: a propensity score-matched study

To evaluate the associations of preoperative De Ritis ratio (aspartate transaminase [AST]/alanine transaminase [ALT]) with postoperative clinical outcomes after surgical treatment of localized RCC.

Preoperative Glycemic Control Status as a Significant Predictor of Biochemical Recurrence in Prostate Cancer Patients after Radical Prostatectomy

Background The effect of diabetes mellitus (DM) on prostate cancer (PCa) outcome remains controversial. Thus, we investigated the association of DM history, glycemic control, and metformin use with oncologic outcomes after radical prostatectomy (RP). Methods We reviewed the records of 746 contemporary patients who had hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) measured within the 6 months preceding RP. The associations between clinical variables and risk of adverse pathological features and biochemical recurrence (BCR) were tested using a multivariate logistic regression and multiple Cox-proportional hazards model, respectively. BCR was defined as prostatic specific antigen (PSA) > 0.2 ng/mL in 2 consecutive tests. Results There were no significant differences in the rates of adverse pathologic features and BCR-free survival between patients with (n = 209) and without (n = 537) a history of DM diagnosis (all p > 0.05). In multivariate analyses, high HbA1c level (≥ 6.5%) was significantly related with high pathologic Gleason score (≥ 4+3; odds ratio [OR] 1.704, p = 0.019) and BCR-free survival (OR 1.853, p = 0.007). Metformin use was not associated with BCR-free survival (OR 0.662, p = 0.125). Conclusions Poor glycemic control was significantly associated with BCR after RP. Meanwhile, metformin use was not associated with biochemical outcome after RP. Further investigation would be needed to identify exact mechanism underlying the impact of glycemic control on PCa treatment outcome.

Epidemiology of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms: Emphasis on the Status in Korea

A comprehensive and correct understanding of epidemiologic finding about lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is important for several reasons. First, LUTS are highly prevalent in both genders all around the world and are expected to be a major concern to physicians in the near future because of the rapid rise in the elderly population. Second, it is crucial to observe trends in prevalence when national health care policy is established. By using a Medline search with various terms related to LUTS and prevalence, a review of epidemiologic studies was undertaken with an emphasis on the status in Korea. Despite the suggestions made by the International Continence Society, the lack of uniform definitions and the lack of a unified threshold of symptoms are the biggest obstacles in epidemiologic study with regard to LUTS. Most Korean epidemiologic studies on LUTS have been reported since 2000 and reveal that the prevalences of specific clinical conditions, such as LUTS, benign prostatic hyperplasia, overactive bladder, and detrusor underactivity, are in line with prevalences in Western counties. However, the prevalence of nocturia is somewhat different from that in Western countries. Many epidemiologic studies of LUTS have provided us with valuable information and a better understanding of the clinical conditions. Given that the impact of these clinical conditions on quality of life and health care cost will be emphasized more in the near future, more studies on optimal management approaches to LUTS are needed on the basis of this knowledge.

Impact of warm ischaemia time on postoperative renal function after partial nephrectomy for clinical T1 renal cell carcinoma: a propensity score-matched study

To analyse the effect of prolonged warm ischaemia time (WIT) on long‐term renal function after partial nephrectomy (PN), as controversy still exists as to whether prolonged WIT adversely affects the incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) after PN.

Impact of Prostatic Apical Shape and Protrusion on Early Recovery of Continence After Robot-assisted Radical Prostatectomy

OBJECTIVE To investigate the impact of prostatic apical shape from preoperative magnetic resonance imaging on early recovery of urinary continence after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). MATERIALS AND METHODS We reviewed the records of 1011 patients who underwent RARP at a tertiary center from October 2007 to March 2013. Patients were stratified into 4 different groups by prostatic apical shapes as shown on preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (groups A-D). The early recovery of urinary continence was defined as 0 or 1 security pad/d within 12 weeks after the surgery. The association between early recovery of continence and various factors was analyzed. RESULTS Overall, 807 patients (79.8%) showed early recovery of urinary continence. The numbers of patients in groups A, B, C, and D were 88 (8.7%), 478 (47.3%), 167 (16.5%), and 278 (27.5%), respectively. There were no significant differences in the rates of early recovery of urinary continence between different groups (P = .257). On multivariate analysis, the patients age (odds ratio [OR], 0.960; P = .004), preoperative International Index of Erectile Function-5 score (OR, 1.029; P = .009), neurovascular bundle preservation (OR, 1.586; P = .013), and membranous urethral length (OR, 1.104; P = .001) were revealed as independent prognostic factors in the early recovery of urinary continence. CONCLUSION The results of our study showed that the prostatic apical shape does not influence the early recovery of urinary continence. We believe this is another strong point of RARP compared with conventional open surgery, particularly for patients with complex type of apical shape.

Preoperative Plasma Fibrinogen Level as a Significant Prognostic Factor in Patients With Localized Renal Cell Carcinoma After Surgical Treatment.

AbstractWe sought to investigate the association of preoperative fibrinogen levels with clinicopathologic outcomes after surgical treatment of nonmetastatic renal cell carcinoma. We reviewed the records of 1511 patients who had their fibrinogen levels measured preceding surgery. The associations between preoperative fibrinogen level and risk of adverse clinicopathologic outcomes were tested using the multivariate logistic regression and multiple Cox-proportional hazards model, respectively.Based on plasma fibrinogen levels, we stratified the patients into 2 groups with a cut-off value of 328 mg/dL. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed significantly inferior survival outcomes in progression-free (P < 0.001), cancer-specific (P < 0.001), and overall survival (P < 0.001). In multivariate analyses, a high fibrinogen level (≥328 mg/dL) was significantly related to a higher Fuhrman grade (hazard ratio [HR] 1.374, P = 0.006) and a larger tumor size (≥7 cm) (HR 2.364, P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox analysis also revealed that a high preoperative fibrinogen level is a significant predictor for poor disease progression (HR 1.857, P < 0.001), cancer-specific survival (HR 3.608, P = 0.003), and overall survival (HR 1.647, P = 0.027).Increased plasma fibrinogen levels were significantly associated with poor pathological features and worse survival outcomes in patients with nonmetastatic renal cell carcinoma after surgical treatment. Further evaluations such as prospective randomized trials are needed to understand the underlying mechanism for these associations.

Diagnostic performance of diffusion-weighted imaging for prostate cancer: Peripheral zone versus transition zone

Objectives Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has been shown to be an important component of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI). We compared performance of DWI for detection of prostate cancer (PCa) in peripheral zone (PZ) and transition zone (TZ) of prostate. Materials and methods We reviewed data of 460 subjects who underwent preoperative 3.0-Tesla mpMRI and subsequently radical prostatectomy. Level of suspicion for PCa was graded using 5-grade Likert-scale from DWI. Topographic analyses were performed for location of tumor foci at each surgical specimen. Among those with DWI grade ≥ III, we analyzed concordance rate on the location of radiologic and pathologic index lesions between DWI and surgical specimens. Results Among 460 patients, 351 (76.3%) patients showed suspicious DWI lesions (57.5% in PZ, 42.5% in TZ). Multivariates regression analyses revealed significant associations between high DWI grade and adverse pathologic outcomes including pathologic stage, Gleason score, tumor volume and extracapsular extension (all p < 0.05). Overall concordance rates between DWI and surgical specimen were 75.8%, significantly higher in PZ than TZ (82.2% vs. 67.1% p = 0.002). Such concordance rate showed a positive linear association with increase in DWI grading (p < 0.001). Among 109 patients with DWI grade I-II, 28 (25.7%) harbored high grade disease (pathologic Gleason score ≥ 4 + 3). Conclusions DWI detects tumors in PZ of prostate more accurately than those in TZ. Such accuracy of DWI was shown to be more evident with higher DWI grade. Meanwhile, a negative DWI did not guarantee absence of high grade PCa.

Favorable Gleason 3 + 4 Prostate Cancer Shows Comparable Outcomes With Gleason 3 + 3 Prostate Cancer: Implications for the Expansion of Selection Criteria for Active Surveillance

Micro‐Abstract To evaluate the feasibility of active surveillance in patients with biopsy Gleason score (GS) 3 + 4 prostate cancer, GS 3 + 4 patients with favorable profiles were compared to GS 3 + 3 patients. After analyzing 1491 subjects, favorable GS 3 + 4 patients showed comparable clinicopathologic outcomes compared to GS 3 + 3 patients. Background: To investigate the feasibility of active surveillance (AS) in biopsy Gleason score (GS) 3 + 4 prostate cancer (PCa), we compared the outcomes of biopsy GS 3 + 3 and 3 + 4 PCa after radical prostatectomy. Patients and Methods: We analyzed the data of 1491 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy for biopsy GS 3 + 3 or 3 + 4 PCa who fulfilled the low‐risk criteria of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines regardless of GS. The favorable GS 3 + 4 group was defined as having core involvement ≤ 50%, prostate‐specific antigen density ≤ 0.2 ng/mL/cm3, and number of positive cores ≤ 2 (maximal 1 core of GS 3 + 4). Results: The GS 3 + 4 group showed significantly worse pathologic outcomes, including pathologic GS, pathologic stage, and seminal vesicle invasion rate (all P < .001), as well as worse biochemical recurrence–free survival (P < .001) than the GS 3 + 3 group. However, the favorable GS 3 + 4 subgroup showed no significant differences in the pathologic outcomes (all P > .05) and in biochemical recurrence–free survival (P = .817) compared to the GS 3 + 3 group. Conclusion: Despite the application of low‐risk criteria, GS 3 + 4 PCa patients showed significantly worse outcomes than GS 3 + 3 patients. However, favorable GS 3 + 4 patients showed comparable clinicopathologic outcomes with GS 3 + 3 patients, suggesting possible expansion of AS for the favorable GS 3 + 4 group.

Accurate Risk Assessment of Patients with Pathologic T3aN0M0 Renal Cell Carcinoma

To develop a more precise risk-stratification system by investigating the prognostic impact of tumor growth within fatty tissues surrounding the kidney and/or renal vein. We conducted a retrospective review of the medical records of 211 patients with a pathologic diagnosis of T3aN0M0RCC among 4,483 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients from February 1988 to December 2015 according to the number of T3a pathologies—extrarenal fat invasion (EFI) and/or renal venous invasion (RVI). During a mean follow-up duration of 38.8 months, the patients with both pathologies (EFI + RVI) had lower recurrence free survival (RFS) rate than those with only a single pathology (p = 0.001). Using multivariable Cox regression analysis, the presence of both factors was shown to be an independent predictor of RFS (HR = 1.964, p = 0.032); cancer specific survival rate was not different among patients with EFI and/or RVI. Patients with pathologic T3aN0M0 RCC presenting with both EFI and RVI were at an increased risk of recurrence following nephrectomy. Therefore, pathologic T3a RCC could be sub-divided into those with favorable and unfavorable disease according to presence of EFI and/or RVI pathologies.

Comparisons of oncological outcomes and perioperative complications between laparoscopic and open radical nephrectomies in patients with clinical T2 renal cell carcinoma (≥7cm)

Purpose Although minimal invasive techniques have been widely accepted in contemporary urology, the perioperative outcomes of laparoscopy in patients with clinical T2 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) have not been clearly evaluated. We aimed to compare the outcomes of laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (LRN) with those of open radical nephrectomy (ORN) in patients with clinical T2 RCC. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of 835 patients who underwent radical nephrectomy for localized clinical T2 RCC (≥7 cm). The survival rates and postoperative complications were compared between the LRN and ORN groups. Multivariate Cox regression tests were performed to identify the independent predictors of each survival outcome. Results There were 578 (69.2%) subjects in ORN group and 257 (30.8%) in LRN group, respectively. The LRN group showed a significant male predominance (p = 0.013), higher pathological stage (p = 0.02), and higher cellular grade (p = 0.010) compared with the ORN group. No significant differences in progression-free (p = 0.070), cancer-specific (p = 0.472), or overall survival (p = 0.249) were found between the two groups. In the multivariate analysis, the type of surgery did not show any significant associations with all three survival outcomes (all p > 0.2). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in postoperative complication rate between the two groups (p = 0.595). In the subgroup analysis according to tumor histology, no significant relationships were observed between survival outcome and surgery type. Conclusion The LRN and ORN groups showed similar oncological outcomes in patients with clinical T2 RCC. Early postoperative complications were also comparable between LRN and ORN.