Petros Sountoulides

Evaluation of the Prognostic Significance of Perirenal Fat Invasion and Tumor Size in Patients with pT1–pT3a Localized Renal Cell Carcinoma in a Comprehensive Multicenter Study of the CORONA project. Can We Improve Prognostic Discrimination for Patients with Stage pT3a tumors?

BACKGROUNDnThe current TNM system for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) merges perirenal fat invasion (PFI) and renal vein invasion (RVI) as stage pT3a despite limited evidence concerning their prognostic equivalence. In addition, the prognostic value of PFI compared to pT1-pT2 tumors remains controversial.nnnOBJECTIVEnTo analyze the prognostic significance of PFI, RVI, and tumor size in pT1-pT3a RCC.nnnDESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSnData for 7384 pT1a-pT3a RCC patients were pooled from 12 centers. Patients were grouped according to stages and PFI/RVI presence as follows: pT1-2N0M0 (n=6137; 83.1%), pT3aN0M0 + PFI (n=1036; 14%), and pT3aN0M0 (RVI ± PFI; n=211; 2.9%).nnnINTERVENTIONnRadical nephrectomy or nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) (1992-2010).nnnOUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSISnCancer-specific survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional-hazards regression models, as well as sensitivity and discrimination analyses, were used to evaluate the impact of clinicopathologic parameters on cancer-specific mortality (CSM).nnnRESULTS AND LIMITATIONSnCompared to stage pT1-2, patients with stage pT3a RCC were significantly more often male (59.4% vs 53.1%) and older (64.9 vs 62.1 yr), more often had clear cell RCC (85.2% vs 77.7%), Fuhrman grade 3-4 (29.4% vs 13.4%), and tumor size >7 cm (39.1% vs 13%), and underwent NSS less often (7.5% vs 36.6%; all p<0.001). According to multivariate analysis, CSM was significantly higher for the PFI and RVI ± PFI groups compared to pT1-2 patients (hazard ratio [HR] 1.94 and 2.12, respectively; p<0.001), whereas patients with PFI only and RVI ± PFI did not differ (HR 1.17; p=0.316). Tumor size instead enhanced CSM by 7% per cm in stage pT3a (HR 1.07; p<0.001) with a 7 cm cutoff yielding the highest prediction accuracy.nnnCONCLUSIONSnSince the prognostic impact of PFI and RVI on CSM seems to be comparable, merging both as stage pT3a RCC might be justified. Enhanced prognostic discrimination of stage pT3a RCC appears to be possible by applying a tumor size cutoff of 7 cm within an alternative staging system.nnnPATIENT SUMMARYnPrognosis prediction for patients with localized renal cell carcinoma up to stage pT3a can be enhanced by including tumor size with a cutoff of 7 cm as an additional parameter in the TNM classification system.

Actual medical management of lower urinary tract symptoms related to benign prostatic hyperplasia: temporal trends of prescription and hospitalization rates over 5 years in a large population of Italian men

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to estimate the trends in drug prescriptions and the hospitalization rates for lower urinary tract symptoms/benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS/BPH) in real-life clinical practice, using information deriving from administrative databases of the Italian health care system.MethodsPrescription data on approximately 1,500,000 men over 40 were examined, and prescribed boxes of alpha-blockers (ABs) and/or 5 alpha reductase inhibitors (5ARI) were calculated for 5 consecutive years, from 2004 to 2008. Annual use prevalence and incidence rates for each drug class and for the combination therapy (CT) were calculated according to age for the entire study period. Hospitalization rates for reasons related to LUTS/BPH were also evaluated for the same time period.ResultsThe overall distribution of drugs for LUTS/BPH, in terms of number of boxes prescribed, increased by 43xa0%. This increase was accounted for by both classes of drugs although it was greater for 5ARI than for AB (+49 vs +41xa0%). The prevalence of CT showed a substantial increase to almost 25xa0% in patients aged ≥75. Hospitalization rate for BPH/LUTS-related reasons decreased during the study period (8 and 3xa0% per year for non-surgical and surgical reasons, respectively).ConclusionsThe prevalence of the use of drugs prescribed for LUTS/BPH has steadily increased. An increase in terms of prescribed boxes was observed for both classes of drugs, even though the increase was greater for 5ARIs. The reduction in the hospitalization rates needs additional researches.

Nephrectomy for benign disease? A case of isolated renal echinococcosis

Abstractu2002 Cystic hydatid disease may be found in virtually any organ, although involvement of the urinary tract is relatively uncommon. We report a case of isolated renal hydatid disease presenting with hydatiduria. A short review of the literature regarding diagnosis and management of renal echinococcosis is also presented.

Do Young Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma Feature a Distinct Outcome after Surgery? A Comparative Analysis of Patient Age Based on the Multinational CORONA Database

PURPOSEnWe analyzed the distinct clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with renal cell carcinoma age 40 years or less compared to a reference group of patients 60 to 70 years old.nnnMATERIALS AND METHODSnOverall 2,572 patients retrieved from a multicenter international database comprised of 6,234 patients with surgically treated renal cell carcinoma were included in this retrospective study. Clinical and histopathological features of 297 patients 40 years old or younger (4.8%) were compared to those of 2,275 patients (36.5%) 60 to 70 years old, who served as the reference group. Median followup was 59 months. The impact of young age and further parameters on disease specific mortality and all cause mortality was evaluated by multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses.nnnRESULTSnYoung patients more frequently underwent nephron sparing surgery (27% vs 20%, p = 0.008) and regional lymph node dissection compared to older patients (38% vs 32%, p = 0.025). Organ confined tumor stage (81% vs 70%, p <0.001), smaller tumor diameter (4.5 vs 4.7 cm, p = 0.014) and chromophobe subtype (10% vs 4%, p <0.001) were significantly more frequent in young patients. On multivariate analysis older patients had a higher disease specific (HR 2.21, pxa0<0.001) and all cause mortality (HR 3.05, p <0.001). The c indices for the Cox models were 0.87 and 0.78, respectively. However, integration of the variable age group did not significantly increase the predictive accuracy of the disease specific and all cause mortality models.nnnCONCLUSIONSnYoung patients with renal cell carcinoma (40 years old or younger) have significantly different frequencies of clinical and histopathological features, and a significantly lower all cause and disease specific mortality compared to patients 60 to 70 years old.

Results of a comparative study analyzing octogenarians with renal cell carcinoma in a competing risk analysis with patients in the seventh decade of life

OBJECTIVESnTo analyze clinicopathological features and survival of surgically treated patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) ≥ 80 years of age in comparison with patients between the ages of 60 and 70 years.nnnMATERIALS AND METHODSnThe data for 2,516 patients with a median follow-up of 57 months were retrieved from a multinational database (Collaborative Research on Renal Neoplasms Association [CORONA]), including data for 6,234 consecutive patients with RCC after radical or partial nephrectomy. Comparative analysis of clinicopathological features of 241 octogenarians (3.9% of the database) and 2,275 reference patients between the ages of 60 and 70 years (36.5%) was performed. Multivariable regression analysis adjusted for competing risks was applied to identify the effect of advanced age on cancer-specific mortality (CSM) and other-cause mortality (OCM). Furthermore, instrumental variable analysis was employed to reduce residual confounding by unmeasured parameters.nnnRESULTSnSignificantly more women were present (50% vs. 40%, P = 0.004), and significantly less often nephron-sparing surgery was performed in octogenarians compared with the reference group (11% vs. 20%, P<0.001). Although median tumor size and stages did not significantly defer, older patients less often had advanced or metastatic disease (N+/M1) (4.6% vs. 9.6%, P = 0.009). On multivariable analysis, higher CSM (hazard ratio = 1.48, P = 0.042) and OCM rates (hazard ratio = 4.32, P<0.001) were detectable in octogenarians (c-indices = 0.85 and 0.72, respectively). Integration of the variable age group in multivariable models significantly increased the predictive accuracy regarding OCM (6%, P<0.001), but not for CSM. Limitations are based on the retrospective study design.nnnCONCLUSIONSnOctogenarian patients with RCC significantly differ in clinical features and display significantly higher CSM and OCM rates in comparison with their younger counterparts.

The influence of ejaculation and abstinence on urinary flow rates.

To investigate the relationship between urinary flow rate and ejaculation in healthy young men.