Prognostic factors and treatment impact on overall survival in patients with renal neuroendocrine tumour.

Background: Renal neuroendocrine neoplasms (R-NEN) are exceptionally rare tumours characterized by high mortality rates.

Objective: The objective of this study is to analyse prognostic factors and treatment impact on overall survival in patients with R-NEN.

Design Setting And Participants: We identified all patients with R-NEN in the National Cancer Database (NCDB) from 2004 to 2019 and identified prognostic factors for improved survival.

TCF21 Promotes Luminal-Like Differentiation and Suppresses Metastasis in Bladder Cancer.

Little is known regarding the subclone evolution process in advanced bladder cancer, particularly with respect to the genomic alterations that lead to the development of metastatic lesions. In this project, we identify gene expression signatures associated with metastatic bladder cancer through mRNA expression profiling of RNA isolated from 33 primary bladder cancer and corresponding lymph node (LN) metastasis samples. Gene expression profiling (GEP) was performed on RNA isolated using the Illumina DASL platform.

Development of a model to predict prostate cancer at the apex (PCAP model) in patients undergoing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.

Purpose: To develop a model based on preoperative variables to predict apical prostate cancer.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 459 patients who underwent a robotic assisted radical prostatectomy (RALP) between January 2016 and September 2017. All patients had a preoperative biopsy and mpMRI of the prostate.

An evaluation of race, ethnicity, age, and sex-based representation in phase I to II renal cell carcinoma clinical trials in the United States.

Introduction: Enrollment of a representative study population permits generalizable and reliable results for clinical trials. We sought to evaluate whether patients enrolled in trials for advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are representative of the overall population of advanced RCC patients in the United States.

Materials And Methods: The clinicaltrials.

Determining the optimal time for radical cystectomy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Objective: To determine whether the recovery window (RW) between neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and radical cystectomy (RC) affects 90-day postoperative morbidity and incidence of lymph node metastasis.

Patients And Methods: We reviewed patients treated with NAC and RC from 1995 to 2013 for ≤cT N M bladder cancer. The association of the RW with 90-day perioperative morbidity and lymph node metastasis was determined.

Factors associated with regional recurrence after lymph node dissection for penile squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective: To identify factors associated with regional recurrence after lymph node dissection (LND) for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) to determine which patients might benefit from adjuvant therapy.

Patients And Methods: Men who underwent LND for penile SCC from 1977 to 2014 were identified from an institutional database. Kaplan-Meier curves estimated recurrence-free survival (RFS) calculated from the date of LND.

Employing an orthotopic model to study the role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in bladder cancer metastasis.

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been implicated in the progression of bladder cancer. To study its contribution to bladder cancer metastasis, we established new xenograft models derived from human bladder cancer cell lines utilizing an orthotopic "recycling" technique that allowed us to isolate and examine the primary tumor and its corresponding circulating tumor cells (CTC's) and metastatic lesions. Using whole genome mRNA expression profiling, we found that a reversible epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) characterized by TGFβ pathway activation and SNAIL expression was associated with the accumulation of CTCs.

Risk based neoadjuvant chemotherapy in muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is an aggressive disease that frequently requires radical cystectomy (RC) to achieve durable cure rates. Surgery is most effective when performed in organ-confined disease, with the best outcomes for those patients with a pT0 result. The goals of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) are to optimize surgical outcomes for a malignancy with limited adjuvant therapies and a lack of effective salvage treatments.

External validation of Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills (GEARS).

Background: We demonstrate the construct validity, reliability, and utility of Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills (GEARS), a clinical assessment tool designed to measure robotic technical skills, in an independent cohort using an in vivo animal training model.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional observational study design, 47 voluntary participants were categorized as experts (>30 robotic cases completed as primary surgeon) or trainees. The trainee group was further divided into intermediates (≥5 but ≤30 cases) or novices (<5 cases).

Clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes of penile cancer treated at tertiary care centers in the Western United States.

Background: This article reports on the experience with penile squamous cell carcinoma (PSCC) in a unique multiethnic patient population from Los Angeles, California, with regard to treatments rendered and clinical outcomes.

Patients And Methods: Available clinical, pathologic, and treatment information for PSCC patients treated at 3 hospitals associated with the University of Southern California from 1991 to 2011 was retrospectively reviewed. Associations of patient variables with prognosis were assessed using univariable and multivariable analyses.

Comparative assessment of three standardized robotic surgery training methods.

Objectives: To evaluate three standardized robotic surgery training methods, inanimate, virtual reality and in vivo, for their construct validity. To explore the concept of cross-method validity, where the relative performance of each method is compared.

Materials And Methods: Robotic surgical skills were prospectively assessed in 49 participating surgeons who were classified as follows: 'novice/trainee': urology residents, previous experience <30 cases (n = 38) and 'experts': faculty surgeons, previous experience ≥30 cases (n = 11).

Near-infrared fluorescence imaging to facilitate super-selective arterial clamping during zero-ischaemia robotic partial nephrectomy.

Unlabelled: WHAT'S KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT? AND WHAT DOES THE STUDY ADD?: There is concern that warm ischaemia time during partial nephrectomy may have an adverse impact on postoperative renal function. As a result, there is increased interest in developing a safe and effective method for performing non-ischaemic partial nephrectomy. Several novel approaches have recently been described.

Paraneoplastic hypertension associated with renal oncocytoma: management with cryoablation.

Paraneoplastic hypertension associated with a renal oncocytoma is an unreported syndrome. We report a unique case of a patient with multidrug-resistant hypertension who was found to have a solitary renal mass. Cryoablation was performed and resulted in an immediate and dramatic decrease in blood pressure.