Publications by authors named "Luca DI Gianfrancesco"

Background/objectives: Bladder cancer is a multifactorial disease, ranking as the 10th most common cancer globally and the fourth most common cancer in men and the ninth in women in the Western world. This bibliometric analysis aims to identify and evaluate scientific literature addressing new biomarkers for bladder cancer diagnosis, as well as to identify the most prolific organizations, authors, journals, countries, and keywords within this research domain.

Methods: An electronic search was conducted using Elsevier's Scopus database.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess the outcomes of robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) with intracorporeal orthotopic neobladder in women with bladder cancer, specifically focusing on functionality, cancer results, and complications.
  • The research involved 146 female patients, revealing that about half underwent pelvic organ-preserving procedures, achieving overall daytime and nighttime continence rates of 54% and 53%.
  • The findings concluded that RARC with orthotopic neobladder offers good functional outcomes, with pelvic organ preservation improving urinary continence while maintaining cancer safety.
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  • Bladder cancer is the tenth most common cancer globally, with about 25% of cases being muscle-invasive and traditionally treated with radical cystectomy.
  • In recent years, bladder-sparing treatments like trimodal therapy have shown comparable survival rates to radical cystectomy while offering fewer side effects and better quality of life.
  • The study reviewed the impact of different histological subtypes of bladder cancer, discovering that certain subtypes are associated with worse survival outcomes, highlighting the need for tailored treatment approaches and multi-disciplinary assessments.
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  • - The study investigates the role of PD-L1 expression as a potential biomarker for bladder cancer by analyzing its presence in urine samples from patients undergoing surgical treatment for the disease.
  • - Among 29 patients, PD-L1 expression rates varied significantly across tumor grades, with higher detection in high-grade tumors and good agreement between urine tests (cytoinclusion) and traditional tissue analysis (histopathology).
  • - The research suggests cytoinclusion can serve as a promising, non-invasive method for assessing PD-L1 levels, potentially aiding in the diagnosis and prognosis of bladder cancer, and recommends further standardization for clinical use.
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Background/aim: Nutrition is a key element of the prehabilitation process prior to surgery. The aim of this study was to identify the clinical pathways of nutritional prehabilitation before cystectomy.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted in PubMed, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Scopus and the Web of Science databases.

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Background: The urinary retention is recognized as a promoting factor for bladder cancer, but its role as prognostic factor of therapeutic response has not yet been widely considered. To correlate bladder outlet characteristics with short-term response to treatment in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Materials And Methods: We carried out a case-control study on 600 consecutive patients with a first diagnosis of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, recruited at the first endoscopic follow-up visit after standard treatment: 200 patients were not tumor-free (cases) and 400 were tumor-free (controls).

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The increasing importance of treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), while avoiding side effects and maintaining sexual function, has allowed for the development of minimally invasive surgical therapies (MISTs). Recently, the European Association of Urology guidelines reported a paradigm shift from the management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) to the management of nonneurogenic male LUTS. The aim of the present review was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the most commonly used MISTs: ablative techniques such as aquablation, prostatic artery embolization, water vapor energy, and transperineal prostate laser ablation, and nonablative techniques such as prostatic urethral lift and temporarily implanted nitinol device (iTIND).

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Bladder cancer (BCa) is a common type of cancer that affects the urinary bladder. The early detection and management of BCa is critical for successful treatment and patient outcomes. In recent years, researchers have been exploring the use of biomarkers as a non-invasive and effective tool for the detection and monitoring of BCa.

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Purpose: We report a comparative monocentric study with a short and long-term follow-up with the aim to assess differences about urinary continence outcomes in patients treated with Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy (RARP) with two different techniques: with anterior and posterior reconstruction and without any kind of reconstruction.

Materials And Methods: From January 2016 to September 2021, at the Department of Urology of the "F. Miulli" Hospital of Acquaviva delle Fonti, in Italy, 850 eligible patients underwent extraperitoneal RARP with anterior and posterior reconstruction and 508 without reconstructions.

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Pelvic lymphnode dissection (PLND) is an integral part of surgical treatment for localized intermediate and high-risk prostate cancer. The most common complication of PLND is lymphocele formation. In the majority of cases the development of lymphoceles is clinically asymptomatic but in case of symptomatic/infected lymphocele an active treatment is required.

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Background: Little is known regarding functional outcomes after robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) and intracorporeal neobladder (ICNB) reconstruction.

Objective: To report on urinary continence (UC) and erectile function (EF) at 12 mo after RARC and ICNB reconstruction and investigate predictors of these outcomes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: We used data from a multi-institutional database of patients who underwent RARC and ICNB reconstruction for bladder cancer.

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Background: Paratesticular fibrous pseudotumor (PFP) is a rare intrascrotal benign fibrous mass of uncertain aetiology, usually arising between testicular tunica layers and is supposed to be related to inflammatory reactive conditions. Because of morphological similarities to IgG4-related sclerosing fibro-inflammatory lesions, some authors recently postulated that PFP might belong to the IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) family. Considering the rarity of this lesion, only few cases have been reported in literature about the correlation between IgG4-RD and PFP.

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Purpose: Radical cystectomy (RC) is the standard treatment for high-risk non muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) failing first BCG treatment. A second BCG course is an option for those patients who refuse RC or are not eligible for it, but its success rate is quite low. Aim of the present study was to determine whether the addition of intravesical electromotive drug administration of mytomicin-C (EMDA-MMC) improved the efficacy of second BCG course.

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Background: Severe functional impairment is often considered a contraindication to intravesical therapy for nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). A tailored intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) procedure was evaluated in high-risk (HR)-NMIBC patients with severe functional impairment.

Materials And Methods: Patients with a Katz Index score of 2 or less and an initial diagnosis of HR-NMIBC with atraumatic insertion of a Foley-type indwelling catheter, bladder emptying, and BCG instillation were prospectively treated; after 2 hours, the bladder was emptied and the catheter was removed (group A).

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Article Synopsis
  • There hasn’t been a successful development of noninvasive biomarkers for determining prognosis in noninvasive muscle bladder cancer.
  • Standard urinalysis remains important for collecting crucial data and is a cost-effective, straightforward method for patient follow-up.
  • Urinalysis can indirectly assess immune activation and response, offering valuable prognostic insights.
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Introduction: The Italian Radical Cystectomy Registry (Registro Italiano Cistectomie - RIC) aimed to analyse outcomes of a multicenter series of patients treated with radical cystectomy (RC) for bladder cancer.

Material And Methods: An observational, prospective, multicenter, cohort study was performed to collect data from RC and urinary diversion via open (ORC), laparoscopic (LRC), or robotic-assisted (RARC) techniques performed in 28 Italian Urological Departments. The enrolment was planned from January 2017 to June 2020 (goal: 1000 patients), with a total of 1425 patients included.

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Introduction: EpiCheck is a new urinary test that analyses DNA methylation biomarkers in order to identify high-risk urothelial cancer MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective single centre study was performed. We analysed Epicheck results in a population of 231 patients in follow-up for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. The primary endpoint was to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of Epicheck in detecting any type of bladder cancer recurrence.

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Purpose: Hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) is a frequent complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT). HC worsens transplant outcomes and patient wellbeing in terms of pain, hospitalization, and need for supportive care. A deeper understanding of the risk factors of HC may lead to more intensive prevention in high-risk patients.

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Background: The management of non-muscle invasive bladder carcinoma (NMIBC) after transurethral resection of a bladder tumor consists of adjuvant intravesical therapy and strict and long surveillance with urine cytology and cystoscopy. The Bladder EpiCheck test (Nucleix Ltd) (BE) is a newly developed urinary markers based on DNA methylation changes in a panel of 15 genomic biomarkers, with a promising performance in term of non-invasive NMIBC detection.

Methods: In this study we prospectively enrolled 151 consecutive patients with high grade NMIBC, treated with intravesical BCG and mitomycin C therapy and evaluated during the follow-up by voided urine cytology and white-light cystoscopy, according to the European Association of Urology Guidelines.

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The COVID-19 pandemic continues to put a strain on the entire world population. The common features of bladder cancer (BCa) and COVID infection have been widely reported and discussion may continue regarding treatment as well. We have highlighted how COVID-19 therapy has many implications with BCa therapy, in particular with potential protective role.

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Background: Bladder cancer (BCa) emits specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the urine headspace that can be detected by an electronic nose. The diagnostic performance of an electronic nose in detecting BCa was investigated in a pilot study.

Methods: A prospective, single-center, controlled, non-randomized, phase 2 study was carried out on 198 consecutive subjects (102 with proven BCa, 96 controls).

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Numerous studies showed that bladder urothelial carcinoma and upper urothelial tract carcinoma (UTUC) display clinical and genomic similarities. In order to analyze that the same panel of biomarkers used in the diagnosis of bladder urothelial carcinoma could be suitable for early detection of UTUC, we performed a retrospective study in which we analyzed Bladder EpiCheck scores in the urinary samples obtained by selective ureteral catheterization in a high-grade UTUC cohort, correlating the results with urinary cytology and diagnostic urethral biopsies. The present study represents a retrospective analysis of 82 patients with clinically localized high-grade UTUC (60 renal pelvis UTUC, 22 ureter UTUC) who had undergone a radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) at our Urology department from June 2018 to November 2020.

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Objectives: To assess if the lockdown period (March-April 2020) during the coronavirus disease-19 outbreak in Italy influenced the number, presentation, and treatment of urgent admissions to the emergency department for ureteral lithiasis, and to evaluate the same variables during the reopening phase (May-June 2020).

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients admitted to the emergency department of three different hospitals (two coronavirus disease-19 hubs). Demographics and data on acute pyelonephritis, acute kidney injury, urinoma, hematuria, inpatient admission/discharge home, and type of treatment were gathered and compared with the same periods in 2019.

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