Publications by authors named "Christian Daniel Fankhauser"

Background And Objective: Treatment burden refers to the overall impact of medical treatments on a patient's well-being and daily life. Our objective is to evaluate the impact of treatment burden on quality of life (QoL) in patients with genitourinary (GU) malignancies, highlighting the importance of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical trials to inform treatment decisions and improve patient care.

Methods: We conducted a narrative review of clinical trials focused on GU malignancy (prostate, bladder, and kidney) between January 2000 and June 2024, analyzing related PROs and findings regarding treatment burden.

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Purpose Of Review: Chemotherapy offers excellent long-term survival rates for men with clinical stage II germ cell tumours. However, in this predominantly younger population, chemotherapy is associated with long-term adverse effects. Primary retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) may serve as an alternative treatment option, preserving oncological safety while potentially reducing adverse effects in men with limited retroperitoneal disease.

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Objectives: To assess the risk of venous thromboembolic events (VTEs) and bleeding with or without thromboprophylaxis during neoadjuvant chemotherapy in bladder cancer patients scheduled for radical cystectomy.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in 4886 patients with non-metastatic bladder cancer undergoing cystectomy across 28 centres in 13 countries between 1990 and 2021. Inverse probability weighting analyses were performed to estimate the effect of thromboprophylaxis on VTE and bleeding.

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Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate non-adherence rates to adjuvant radiotherapy (aRT) after radical prostatectomy (RP) and to obtain patient reported reasons for rejecting aRT despite recommendation by a multidisciplinary team discussion (MTD).

Methods: In a retrospective monocentric analysis, we identified 1,197 prostate cancer patients who underwent RP between 2014 and 2022 at our institution, of which 735 received a postoperative MTD recommendation. Patients with a recommendation for aRT underwent a structured phone interview with predefined standardised qualitative and quantitative questions and were stratified into "adherent" (aRT performed) and "non-adherent" groups (aRT not performed).

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Purpose: Accurate prediction of extraprostatic extension (EPE) is pivotal for surgical planning. Herein, we aimed to provide an updated model for predicting EPE among patients diagnosed with MRI-targeted biopsy.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed a multi-institutional dataset of men with clinically localized prostate cancer diagnosed by MRI-targeted biopsy and subsequently underwent prostatectomy.

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Article Synopsis
  • Up to 10% of patients claim to have a penicillin allergy (PA), but only about 1% have a true Ig-E-mediated allergy, which can lead to poorer surgical outcomes among those with cancer.
  • A study analyzed 152 patients undergoing oncological surgery, finding no significant differences in complications, hospitalization duration, or costs between those with reported PA and those without.
  • The research suggests that educating patients and healthcare providers about what constitutes a true allergy could improve surgical outcomes and that methods like skin testing may help confirm safe antibiotic use for patients.
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Context: Despite negative preoperative conventional imaging, up to 10% of patients with prostate cancer (PCa) harbor lymph-node involvement (LNI) at radical prostatectomy (RP). The advent of more accurate imaging modalities such as PET/CT improved the detection of LNI. However, their clinical impact and prognostic value are still unclear.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Research from 2020 to 2023 indicates that preoperative exercise might benefit uro-oncological patients, particularly in improving short-term fitness and possibly reducing hospital length of stay (LOS) and complications.
  • - Four studies reviewed showed potential advantages of exercise, with two cohort studies suggesting exercise might impact LOS and complications, though results are still inconclusive.
  • - More targeted research is needed to determine which specific types of exercises are most effective for uro-oncological patients and if they truly lead to cost-effective improvements.
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Purpose: There is growing evidence of an association between inflammatory processes and cancer development and progression. In different solid tumor entities, a pronounced inflammatory response is associated with worse oncological outcome. In this study, we aim to evaluate the prognostic role of clinically established pretreatment inflammatory markers in patients with localised prostate cancer (PCa) before radical prostatectomy (RP).

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Purpose: No consensus exists on the management of men with nonseminoma and viable nonteratomatous germ cell tumor in the postchemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (pcRPLND) specimen after first-line chemotherapy. We analyzed surveillance versus different adjuvant chemotherapy regimens and the influence of time to pcRPLND on oncologic outcomes.

Methods: Data on 117 men treated with cisplatin-based first-line chemotherapy between 1990 and 2018 were collected from 13 institutions.

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Background: Continence is an important functional outcome after robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RARP), and modifications of the surgical technique may improve outcomes.

Objective: To illustrate a novel RARP technique and to describe the observed continence outcomes.

Design Setting And Participants: A retrospective study of men treated with RARP between 2017 and 2021 was conducted.

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Purpose Of Review: Stage II seminoma is responsive to chemo- or radiotherapy with a progression-free survival of 87-95% at 5 years but at the cost of short- and long-term toxicity. After evidence about these long-term morbidities emerged, four surgical cohorts investigating the role of retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) as a treatment option for stage II disease were initiated.

Recent Findings: Currently, two RPLND series have been published as a complete report, while data from other series have only been published as congress abstracts.

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Purpose: Bilateral extended pelvic lymph node dissection at the time of radical prostatectomy is the current standard of care if pelvic lymph node dissection is indicated; often, however, pelvic lymph node dissection is performed in pN0 disease. With the more accurate staging achieved with magnetic resonance imaging-targeted biopsies for prostate cancer diagnosis, the indication for bilateral extended pelvic lymph node dissection may be revised We aimed to assess the feasibility of unilateral extended pelvic lymph node dissection in the era of modern prostate cancer imaging.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed a multi-institutional data set of men with cN0 disease diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging-targeted biopsy who underwent prostatectomy and bilateral extended pelvic lymph node dissection.

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Introduction: After radical prostatectomy, many institutions perform cystography to exclude vesicourethral anastomotic leakage before removing a urethral catheter. We reviewed diagnostic methods to exclude leakage compared to the reference standard cystography.

Methods: We performed systematic literature review to summarize the published options and outcomes for assessment of vesicourethral anastomotic leakage after radical prostatectomy.

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Background: Testicular germ cell tumours (GCTs) are the most frequent solid malignancy in younger males aged 15-40. The differentiation between seminomas and non-seminomas impacts prognosis, clinical management and follow-up procedures. With stage- and risk-adapted multimodal treatment approaches, GCTs have an exceptionally good prognosis.

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Context: The aim of this review is to describe the proportion of testicular germ cell tumours (tGCTs) with recurrence, and the timing and anatomical sites of relapse across different disease stages and after different treatment options. We summarise published follow-up protocols and discuss current and future developments to personalise follow-up for patients with tGCT.

Evidence Acquisition: A systematic literature search was conducted and current guidelines and selected institutional follow-up protocols were reviewed.

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Introduction And Objectives: In several urogenital cancers, organ-preserving surgery represents the preferred treatment approach, but in patients with testicular germ cell tumors (tGCTs), radical orchiectomy represents the standard of care. This study aimed to summarize published case series assessing oncological and functional outcomes after testis-sparing surgery (TSS) in patients with tGCTs.

Materials And Methods: A systematic literature review and individual patient data meta-analysis were conducted of published cases with tGCT treated with TSS.

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Background: Non-invasive liquid biopsies could complement current pathological nomograms for risk stratification of prostate cancer patients. Development and testing of potential liquid biopsy markers is time, resource, and cost-intensive. For most protein targets, no antibodies or ELISAs for efficient clinical cohort pre-evaluation are currently available.

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Article Synopsis
  • Radiation therapy is an effective treatment for testicular seminoma after orchiectomy, but information on relapses post-treatment is limited.
  • A study of 61 patients revealed high survival rates: 90% disease-free and 98% overall survival at 5 years, with most relapses occurring more than 15 months after radiation.
  • The majority of relapses were managed successfully with cisplatin-based chemotherapy, leading to strong outcomes and highlighting the need for awareness of potential late relapses.
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Purpose: To provide recommendations for the follow-up of rare, clinically localised testis tumours, including Leydig, Sertoli or granulosa cell and spermatocytic tumours.

Methods: Medline and Embase searches to identify published clinical trials, cohort studies, reviews, clinical practise guidelines and meta-analyses to design expert opinion-based follow-up schedules.

Results: In four different systematic reviews, we previously identified 1375 men with Leydig, 435 with Sertoli, 239 with granulosa cell lesions and 146 with spermatocytic tumours.

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