The Cancer of the Bladder Risk Assessment (COBRA) score: Estimating mortality after radical cystectomy.

Background: Risk stratification of patients with urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) after cystectomy has important clinical and research implications. The authors assessed the relative effect of tumor stage and lymph node status on cancer-specific survival (CSS) after cystectomy and developed a simplified risk-assessment tool.

Methods: In total, 14,828 patients who underwent cystectomy with lymph node dissection for UCB were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (1988-2011).

Immediate versus delayed radical prostatectomy: updated outcomes following active surveillance of prostate cancer.

Background: Biopsy progression on active surveillance (AS) for prostate cancer (PCa) often reflects failure of the initial biopsy to detect cancer present at enrollment. The risks for delayed treatment among men who progress on AS are not well defined.

Objective: To report outcomes for men who underwent surgery after AS compared to men who underwent immediate surgery and the influence of selection bias on this outcome.

Diagnostic associations of gene expression signatures in prostate cancer tissue.

Purpose Of Review: Over the past several years, multiple biomarkers designed to improve prostate cancer risk stratification have become commercially available, while others are still being developed. In this review, we focus on the evidence supporting recently reported biomarkers, with a focus on gene expression signatures.

Recent Findings: Many recently developed biomarkers are able to improve upon traditional risk assessment at nearly all stages of disease.

Extended followup and risk factors for disease reclassification in a large active surveillance cohort for localized prostate cancer.

Purpose: Active surveillance to manage prostate cancer provides an alternative to immediate treatment in men with low risk prostate cancer. We report updated outcomes from a long-standing active surveillance cohort and factors associated with reclassification.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data on all men enrolled in the active surveillance cohort at our institution with at least 6 months of followup between 1990 and 2013.

Meaningful end points and outcomes in men on active surveillance for early-stage prostate cancer.

Purpose Of Review: Active surveillance is a management strategy for early-stage prostate cancer designed to balance early detection of aggressive disease and overtreatment of indolent disease. We evaluate recently reported outcomes and discuss the potentially most important endpoints for such an approach.

Recent Findings: The past 2 years have seen the publication of two trials of watchful waiting versus immediate treatment and updates of multiple active surveillance cohorts for men with early-stage prostate cancer.

Age and baseline quality of life at radical prostatectomy--who has the most to lose?

Purpose: Although younger men have better health related quality of life scores after radical prostatectomy, many have higher baseline function with more to lose than older men. We examined the impact of age on sexual and urinary function and bother during the first 2 years after radical prostatectomy.

Materials And Methods: Participants enrolled in CaPSURE™ reported sexual and urinary scores before and after radical prostatectomy using UCLA-PCI.

Persistence of urothelial carcinoma of the bladder risk among former smokers: results from a contemporary, prospective cohort study.

Objectives: Cigarette smoking is a known risk factor for urothelial carcinoma (UC) of the bladder. However, the persistence of an increased risk for UC following smoking cessation is not well established. We assessed the risk of UC among former smokers using a recent, prospective cohort with a high proportion of former smokers.

Combined partial cystectomy and cesarean delivery in a pregnant female with bladder pheochromocytoma.

We report the first known case of concurrent partial cystectomy and cesarean delivery in a pregnant female with bladder pheochromocytoma. A 28-year-old G4P2 female presented at 28 weeks gestation with labile blood pressures requiring three antihypertensive medications. Urinary catecholamines were elevated, and a subsequent MRI showed a 2.

Single cell transcriptomic analysis of prostate cancer cells.

Background: The ability to interrogate circulating tumor cells (CTC) and disseminated tumor cells (DTC) is restricted by the small number detected and isolated (typically <10). To determine if a commercially available technology could provide a transcriptomic profile of a single prostate cancer (PCa) cell, we clonally selected and cultured a single passage of cell cycle synchronized C4-2B PCa cells. Ten sets of single, 5-, or 10-cells were isolated using a micromanipulator under direct visualization with an inverted microscope.

Ductal adenocarcinoma of the prostate: increased mortality risk and decreased serum prostate specific antigen.

Purpose: The clinical significance of ductal prostatic carcinoma is not well-defined. In a population based cancer registry we identified a large group of patients with ductal carcinoma to characterize the impact of the ductal subtype on presentation and survival in men with prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: We used a national cancer registry to identify incident cases of ductal and acinar adenocarcinoma from 1996 to 2006.

Monoscopic versus stereoscopic photography in screening for clinically significant macular edema.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether monoscopic photography could serve as an accurate tool when used to screen for clinically significant macular edema. In a masked randomized fashion, two readers evaluated monoscopic and stereoscopic retinal photographs of 100 eyes. The photographs were evaluated first individually for probable clinically significant macular edema based on the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study criteria and then as stereoscopic pairs.