A short-term cost-effectiveness study comparing robot-assisted laparoscopic and open retropubic radical prostatectomy.

Objective: To evaluate cost effectiveness and cost utility comparing robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) versus retropubic radical prostatectomy (RRP).

Methods: In a retrospective cohort study a total of 231 men between the age of 50 and 69 years and with clinically localised prostate cancer underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) at the Department of Urology, Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2007, were included. The RALP and RRP patients were matched 1:2 on the basis of age and the D'Amico Risk Classification of Prostate Cancer; 77 RALP and 154 RRP.

Downregulation of zinc finger protein 132 in prostate cancer is associated with aberrant promoter hypermethylation and poor prognosis.

This study investigates the expression and biomarker potential of zinc finger protein 132 (ZNF132) in prostate cancer (PC) by transcriptional profiling and immunohistochemical analysis of tissue microarrays, including tumor specimens from 615 radical prostatectomy (RP) patients and 199 conservatively treated patients. Primary clinical endpoints were time to PSA recurrence and cancer-specific death, respectively. Compared to normal prostate epithelial cells from men without PC, ZNF132 transcript levels were significantly reduced in PC cells from patients with localized PC and further downregulated in metastatic PC.

Vitamin D deficiency in cirrhosis relates to liver dysfunction rather than aetiology.

Aim: To examine the vitamin D status in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis compared to those with primary biliary cirrhosis.

Methods: Our retrospective case series comprised 89 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and 34 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis who visited our outpatient clinic in 2005 and underwent a serum vitamin D status assessment.

Results: Among the patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, 85% had serum vitamin D levels below 50 nmol/L and 55% had levels below 25 nmol/L, as compared to 60% and 16% of the patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, respectively (P < 0.

The effects of dutasteride or tamsulosin alone and in combination on storage and voiding symptoms in men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH): 4-year data from the Combination of Avodart and Tamsulosin (CombAT) study.

Objective: • To assess the effects of combined therapy with dutasteride and tamsulosin on voiding and storage symptoms compared with those of dutasteride or tamsulosin alone, using 4-year data from the Combination of Avodart and Tamsulosin (CombAT) study.

Patients And Methods: • Men (n = 4844) aged ≥ 50 years with moderate-to-severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH), a prostate volume of ≥ 30 mL, and a serum prostate-specific antigen level of 1.5-10 ng/mL.

Prediction and diagnosis of bladder cancer recurrence based on urinary content of hTERT, SENP1, PPP1CA, and MCM5 transcripts.

Background: Identification of urinary biomarkers for detection of bladder cancer recurrence would be beneficial to minimize the frequency of cystoscopy. Our objective was to determine the usability of urine content of mRNA in the detection and prediction of bladder cancer recurrence.

Methods: We analyzed 123 prospectively cross-sectional collected urine samples from 117 patients with bladder cancer (12 incident cancers and 111 control visits).

Smarcc1 expression: a significant predictor of disease-specific survival in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer treated with no intention to cure.

Objective: The clinical outcome of prostate cancer (PC) is extremely variable and therefore difficult to predict at the early stage of the disease. Since curative-intended therapies are bound up with the risk of severe adverse events, identification of new prognostic markers in PC is essential in individualized clinical treatment. The Smarcc1 protein, a part of the intranuclear SWI/SNF complex, is up-regulated in PC, and has been suggested to be implicated in tumour dedifferentiation, progression and biochemical recurrence.

Final safety and efficacy analysis of the specific endothelin A receptor antagonist zibotentan (ZD4054) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases who were pain-free or mildly symptomatic for pain: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized Phase II trial.

Objectives: To report the final analysis of a Phase II trial, which investigated the safety and efficacy of the specific endothelin A receptor antagonist zibotentan (AstraZeneca, Macclesfield, UK) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Patients And Methods: Patients with CRPC and bone metastases who were pain free or mildly symptomatic for pain were randomized to receive once-daily oral tablets of zibotentan 10 mg, 15 mg or placebo. The primary endpoint was the time to progression and secondary endpoints included overall survival, change in the number of bone metastases, and safety.

Coordinated epigenetic repression of the miR-200 family and miR-205 in invasive bladder cancer.

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small noncoding RNAs commonly deregulated in cancer. The miR-200 family (miR-200a, -200b, -200c, -141 and -429) and miR-205 are frequently silenced in advanced cancer and have been implicated in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and tumor invasion by targeting the transcriptional repressors of E-cadherin, ZEB1 and ZEB2. ZEB1 is also known to repress miR-200c-141 transcription in a negative feedback loop, but otherwise little is known about the transcriptional regulation of the miR-200 family and miR-205.

Promoter hypomethylation and upregulation of trefoil factors in prostate cancer.

Trefoil factors, mucin-associated peptides, are overexpressed in prostate cancer (PC). We hypothesized that promoter methylation contributes to the regulation of trefoil factors (TFF1, TFF2 and TFF3) in human prostate cells. Here we show hypomethylation of promoter regions of TFF1 and TFF3 in PC cell lines with significant TFF expression as compared to benign immortalized prostate cell lines and PC cell lines not expressing trefoil factor.

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in patients with systemic sclerosis.

Gastrointestinal (GI) problems are common in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and some develop pronounced underweight despite dietary intervention. Two patients with SSc were referred to our department because of severe GI symptoms and critical underweight. They had lost 24 and 23 kg, respectively, and their body mass index (BMI) was only 15 and 17 kg/m(2), respectively.

miR-145 induces caspase-dependent and -independent cell death in urothelial cancer cell lines with targeting of an expression signature present in Ta bladder tumors.

Downregulation of miR-145 in a variety of cancers suggests a possible tumor suppressor function for this microRNA. Here, we show that miR-145 expression is reduced in bladder cancer and urothelial carcinoma in situ, compared with normal urothelium, using transcription profiling and in situ hybridization. Ectopic expression of miR-145 induced extensive apoptosis in urothelial carcinoma cell lines (T24 and SW780) as characterized by caspase activation, nuclear condensation and fragmentation, cellular shrinkage, and detachment.

Impact of comorbidity on survival of invasive bladder cancer patients, 1996-2007: a Danish population-based cohort study.

Objectives: To examine (i) the prevalence of comorbidity among invasive bladder cancer (IBC) patients, and (ii) the effect of comorbidity on IBC survival and mortality in Northern Denmark. Comorbidity has shown to be associated with treatment selection and survival in patients who undergo radical cystectomy for IBC.

Methods: Patients with a diagnosis of IBC from Danish hospitals between 1996 and 2007 within a population of 1.

High frequency of tumor cells with nuclear Egr-1 protein expression in human bladder cancer is associated with disease progression.

Background: Egr-1 (early growth response-1 transcription factor) has been proposed to be involved in invasion and metastasis processes of human bladder cancer, but Egr-1 protein expression levels in human bladder cancer have not been investigated. In the present study we investigated the expression levels of Egr-1 protein in early stages of human bladder cancer and correlated it to later progression.

Methods: Expression of Egr-1 protein in human bladder cancer was examined by immunohistochemistry, on a tissue microarray constructed from tumors from 289 patients with non-muscle invasive urothelial bladder cancer.

Consistent genomic alterations in carcinoma in situ of the urinary bladder confirm the presence of two major pathways in bladder cancer development.

Bladder cancer develops through different pathways, provisionally entitled "papillary" and "invasive." Carcinoma in situ (CIS) is thought to be the precursor of invasive bladder cancer. However, little is known about chromosomal alterations of these clinically important lesions, and the relationship between chromosomal alterations and the different pathways.

Genomic profiling of microRNAs in bladder cancer: miR-129 is associated with poor outcome and promotes cell death in vitro.

microRNAs (miRNA) are involved in cancer development and progression, acting as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. Here, we profiled the expression of 290 unique human miRNAs in 11 normal and 106 bladder tumor samples using spotted locked nucleic acid-based oligonucleotide microarrays. We identified several differentially expressed miRNAs between normal urothelium and cancer and between the different disease stages.

The prognostic impact of comorbidities on renal cancer, 1995 to 2006: a Danish population based study.

Purpose: Comorbid disease in patients with renal cancer may affect renal cancer prognosis. We estimated the risk of 1 and 5-year mortality in patients with renal cancer in northern Denmark by comorbidity status.

Materials And Methods: We performed a cohort study tracking mortality in all patients with an incident diagnosis of renal cancer between 1995 and 2006 in a population of 1.

[Relief of upper urinary tract obstruction in patients with cancer of the prostate].

Introduction: Hydronephrosis in patients with prostate cancer can be relieved by nephrostomia or internal urinary diversion by a double-J ureteral stent. The latter can be placed either retrograde or antegrade by means of an already established nephrostomy. The purpose of the present study was to summarize the use of the different kinds of catheters and to explore differences in use and functional durability.

Snail1 is over-expressed in prostate cancer.

Transcription factor Snail1 is a mediator of cell migration and survival, and expression is elevated in several cancer types. The Snail1 gene is reportedly amplified in prostate cancer (PC), and we investigated Snail1 expression in PC. Immunohistochemical Snail1 staining was determined on a tissue microarray which includes 327 specimens of PC, 30 specimens from patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), benign tissue from 30 PC patients and 15 high-grade prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (high-grade PIN) specimens.

Percentage of tumour-positive biopsy cores: an independent predictor of extraprostatic disease.

Objective: Preoperative staging of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer is vital in determining the correct treatment including radical prostatectomy. Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), Gleason score in prostate biopsies and predicted clinical T-stage using digital rectal examination and transrectal ultrasound are known predictors of extraprostatic disease after surgery. This study analysed whether the percentage of positive biopsy cores was a significant preoperative predictor of extraprostatic disease in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy.

Genetic and epigenetic SLC18A2 silencing in prostate cancer is an independent adverse predictor of biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy.

Purpose: This study investigates SLC18A2 (vesicular monoamine transporter 2) expression in prostate adenocarcinoma and examines its potential as a predictive marker for prostate cancer patient outcome after radical prostatectomy.

Experimental Design: Expression and single nucleotide polymorphism microarray analyses identified SLC18A2 as both down-regulated and subject to common loss-of-heterozygosity in prostate cancer. Down-regulated SLC18A2 expression was validated on tissue microarrays containing benign and malignant prostate specimens from an independent patient group (n=738).

Screening by lower urinary tract symptoms vs asymptomatic prostate-specific antigen levels leading to radical prostatectomy in Danish men: tumour characteristics and treatment outcome.

Objective: To compare the tumour characteristics and treatment outcome in men undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) for prostate cancer diagnosed with or with no lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).

Patients And Methods: In Denmark, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing is recommended only in men with a family history of prostate cancer, or those with LUTS that could be caused by prostate cancer. However, increasingly many men undergoing RP are asymptomatic and are diagnosed as a result of unsystematic PSA screening.

Urethral pressure profile 6 months after radical prostatectomy may be diagnostic of sphincteric incontinence: preliminary data after 12 months' follow-up.

Objective: Male stress incontinence is mainly caused by sphincter lesions, representing the majority of incontinent patients after retropubic radical prostatectomy (RRP). Reflecting the sphincter activity, the urethral pressure profile (UPP) was used to evaluate 65 consecutive patients 6 months after retropubic RRP to identify patients with persistent sphincteric incontinence.

Material And Methods: According to the history of continence, patients were divided into a continent group and three incontinent subgroups.

Safety and efficacy of the specific endothelin-A receptor antagonist ZD4054 in patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases who were pain free or mildly symptomatic: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, phase 2 trial.

Background: The endothelin-A receptor (ETAR) has been implicated in the progression of prostate cancer.

Objectives: To investigate the safety and efficacy of the specific ETAR antagonist ZD4054 in patients with metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer (HRPC).

Design, Setting, And Participants: Double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, parallel-group, multicentre, phase 2 trial in patients attending cancer centres with HRPC and bone metastases who were pain free or mildly symptomatic for pain.