Publications by authors named "Theo Van Der Kwast"

Grade is an important determinant of progression in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) 2004/2016 grading system is recommended, other systems such as WHO1973 and WHO1999 are still widely used. Recently, a hybrid (three-tier) system was proposed, separating WHO2004/2016 high grade (HG) into HG/grade 2 (G2) and HG/G3 while maintaining low grade.

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Background: Prognostic tools in pathological-node (pN) patients after radical cystectomy (RC) are needed.

Objectives: To evaluate the prognostic impact of lymph node (LN)-density on disease-specific survival (DSS) in patients with bladder cancer (BC) undergoing RC with pelvic lymph node dissection.

Methods: We analyzed a multi-institutional cohort of 1169 patients treated with upfront RC for cT1-4aN0M0 urothelial BCat nine centers.

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Purpose: A re-transurethral resection of the bladder (re-TURB) is a well-established approach in managing non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) for various reasons: repeat-TURB is recommended for a macroscopically incomplete initial resection, restaging-TURB is required if the first resection was macroscopically complete but contained no detrusor muscle (DM) and second-TURB is advised for all completely resected T1-tumors with DM in the resection specimen. This study assessed the long-term outcomes after repeat-, second-, and restaging-TURB in T1-NMIBC patients.

Methods: Individual patient data with tumor characteristics of 1660 primary T1-patients (muscle-invasion at re-TURB omitted) diagnosed from 1990 to 2018 in 17 hospitals were analyzed.

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Background: Grade of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is an important prognostic factor for progression. Currently, two World Health Organization (WHO) classification systems (WHO1973, categories: grade 1-3, and WHO2004 categories: papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential [PUNLMP], low-grade [LG], high-grade [HG] carcinoma) are used.

Objective: To ask the European Association of Urology (EAU) and International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) members regarding their current practice and preferences of grading systems.

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Objectives: To evaluate variant histologies (VHs) for disease-specific survival (DSS) in patients with invasive urothelial bladder cancer (BCa) undergoing radical cystectomy (RC).

Materials And Methods: We analysed a multi-institutional cohort of 1082 patients treated with upfront RC for cT1-4aN0M0 urothelial BCa at eight centres. Univariable and multivariable Cox' regression analyses were used to assess the effect of different VHs on DSS in overall cohort and three stage-based analyses.

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Background: Ta grade 3 (G3) non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is a relatively rare diagnosis with an ambiguous character owing to the presence of an aggressive G3 component together with the lower malignant potential of the Ta component. The European Association of Urology (EAU) NMIBC guidelines recently changed the risk stratification for Ta G3 from high risk to intermediate, high, or very high risk. However, prognostic studies on Ta G3 carcinomas are limited and inconclusive.

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Aims: There is strong evidence that cribriform morphology indicates a worse prognosis of prostatic adenocarcinoma. Our aim was to investigate its interobserver reproducibility in prostate needle biopsies.

Methods And Results: A panel of nine prostate pathology experts from five continents independently reviewed 304 digitised biopsies for cribriform cancer according to recent International Society of Urological Pathology criteria.

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Objectives: To investigate whether patients with suspected pelvic lymph node metastases (molecular imaging [mi] N1) on staging prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) had a different oncological outcome compared to those in whom the PSMA PET/CT did not reveal any pelvic lymph node metastases (miN0).

Patients And Methods: All patients with pelvic lymph node metastatic (pN1) disease after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and extended pelvic lymph node dissection (ePLND) between January 2017 and December 2020 were included. To assess predictors of biochemical progression of disease after RARP, a multivariable Cox regression analysis was performed, including number of tumour-positive lymph nodes, diameter of the largest nodal metastasis, and extranodal extension.

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The fifth edition of the WHO Classification of Tumours of the Urinary and Male Genital Systems encompasses several updates to the classification and diagnosis of prostatic carcinoma as well as incorporating advancements in the assessment of its prognosis, including recent grading modifications. Some of the salient aspects include: (1) recognition that prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN)-like carcinoma is not synonymous with a pattern of ductal carcinoma, but better classified as a subtype of acinar adenocarcinoma; (2) a specific section on treatment-related neuroendocrine prostatic carcinoma in view of the tight correlation between androgen deprivation therapy and the development of prostatic carcinoma with neuroendocrine morphology, and the emerging data on lineage plasticity; (3) a terminology change of basal cell carcinoma to "adenoid cystic (basal cell) cell carcinoma" given the presence of an underlying MYB::NFIB gene fusion in many cases; (4) discussion of the current issues in the grading of acinar adenocarcinoma and the prognostic significance of cribriform growth patterns; and (5) more detailed coverage of intraductal carcinoma of prostate (IDC-P) reflecting our increased knowledge of this entity, while recommending the descriptive term atypical intraductal proliferation (AIP) for lesions falling short of IDC-P but containing more atypia than typically seen in high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN). Lesions previously regarded as cribriform patterns of HGPIN are now included in the AIP category.

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Background: The pathological existence and clinical consequence of stage T1 grade 1 (T1G1) bladder cancer are the subject of debate. Even though the diagnosis of T1G1 is controversial, several reports have consistently found a prevalence of 2-6% G1 in their T1 series. However, it remains unclear if T1G1 carcinomas have added value as a separate category to predict prognosis within the non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) spectrum.

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Mutations in the gene are indicative of worse outcome in bladder cancer and are usually assessed by immunohistochemistry. To define p53-overexpression, a threshold of >10% is most commonly used (cut-off1). Recently, a novel cut-off (aberrant = 0% or ≥50%) (cut-off2) showed better correlation to clinical outcome.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to explore the link between FGFR3 mutations and certain IHC markers (p53 and Ki-67) in invasive bladder cancer, as well as their impact on patient outcomes after radical cystectomy.
  • A total of 1058 patients were analyzed, revealing that FGFR3 mutations were associated with less aggressive cancer features and better disease-specific survival, while abnormal p53 and Ki-67 levels correlated with more aggressive tumor characteristics.
  • The findings suggest that FGFR3 mutations could help identify patients with favorable bladder cancer for tailored treatment strategies, alongside traditional indicators like tumor stage and nodal status.
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Purpose/objective: Risk-stratification for post-prostatectomy radiotherapy (PORT) using conventional clinicopathologic indexes leads to substantial over- and under-treatment. Better patient selection could spare unnecessary toxicities and improve outcomes. We investigated the prognostic utility of unfavorable subpathologies intraductal carcinoma and cribriform architecture (IDC/CA), and a 22-gene Decipher genomic classifier (GC) in prostate cancer (PCa) patients receiving PORT.

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Purpose: To evaluate the risk factors associated with positive surgical margins' (PSMs) location and their impact on disease-specific survival (DSS) in patients with bladder cancer (BCa) undergoing radical cystectomy (RC).

Methods: We analyzed a large multi-institutional cohort of patients treated with upfront RC for non-metastatic (cT1-4aN0M0) BCa. Multivariable binomial logistic regression analyses were used to assess the risk of PSMs at RC for each location after adjusting for clinicopathological covariates.

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Article Synopsis
  • Grading is essential for treatment decisions in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and the study aims to identify the best grading system through expert insights.
  • A multidisciplinary group analyzed existing evidence and found that the World Health Organization (WHO) 2004 classification lacks consistency and support, particularly among low-grade cases.
  • The study recommends refining the grading system to a more reliable three-tiered model that better distinguishes between levels of NMIBC, which could lead to improved treatment choices for patients.
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Background: In the current European Association of Urology (EAU) non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) guideline, two classification systems for grade are advocated: WHO1973 and WHO2004/2016.

Objective: To compare the prognostic value of these WHO systems.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Individual patient data for 5145 primary Ta/T1 NMIBC patients from 17 centers were collected between 1990 and 2019.

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Background: The European Association of Urology (EAU) prognostic factor risk groups for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) are used to provide recommendations for patient treatment after transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). They do not, however, take into account the widely used World Health Organization (WHO) 2004/2016 grading classification and are based on patients treated in the 1980s.

Objective: To update EAU prognostic factor risk groups using the WHO 1973 and 2004/2016 grading classifications and identify patients with the lowest and highest probabilities of progression.

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Fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) is an actionable target in bladder cancer (BC). FGFR3 mutations are common in noninvasive BC and associated with favorable BC prognosis. Overexpression was reported in up to 40% of FGFR3 wild-type muscle-invasive BC.

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The International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) hosts a reference image database supervised by experts with the purpose of establishing an international standard in prostate cancer grading. Here, we aimed to identify areas of grading difficulties and compare the results with those obtained from an artificial intelligence system trained in grading. In a series of 87 needle biopsies of cancers selected to include problematic cases, experts failed to reach a 2/3 consensus in 41.

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During the 2019 International Society of Urological Pathology Consultation Conference on Molecular Pathology of Urogenital Cancer, the Working Group on Bladder Cancer presented the current status and made recommendations on the diagnostic use of molecular pathology, incorporating a premeeting survey. Bladder cancers are biologically diverse and can be separated into "molecular subtypes," based on expression profiling. These subtypes associate with clinical behavior, histology, and molecular alterations, though their clinical utility has not been demonstrated at present and use in bladder cancer is not recommended.

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Background: Although guidelines exist for advanced and variant bladder cancer management, evidence is limited/conflicting in some areas and the optimal approach remains controversial.

Objective: To bring together a large multidisciplinary group of experts to develop consensus statements on controversial topics in bladder cancer management.

Design: A steering committee compiled proposed statements regarding advanced and variant bladder cancer management which were assessed by 113 experts in a Delphi survey.

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Background: The initial report from the ASIST trial showed little benefit from targeted biopsy for men on active surveillance (AS) for prostate cancer. Data after 2-yr follow-up are now available for analysis.

Objective: To determine if there was a difference in the AS failure rate in a 2-yr follow-up period among men undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before initial confirmatory biopsy (CBx) compared to those who did not.

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