Does perioperative chemotherapy improve survival in upper tract urothelial carcinoma? A population based analysis.

Objectives: To evaluate the utilization and outcomes of perioperative chemotherapy in non-metastatic UTUC patients over the past decade using a large national database.

Methods: All patients aged 18 and older diagnosed with non-metastatic UTUC between 2004 and 2013 were identified within the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. Relevant clinical data was collected and predictors of cancer specific mortality (CSM) and other cause mortality (OCM) were analyzed.

Does peritoneal dialysis have a role in urgent-start end-stage kidney disease?

Despite its many positive attributes, peritoneal dialysis remains underutilized, particularly in the United States. Urgent-start peritoneal dialysis (PD) has been proposed as a method of increasing PD prevalence. Urgent-start PD has been shown to be safe, feasible, and effective.

Dissecting the Evolving Risk of Relapse over Time in Surveillance for Testicular Cancer.

Testicular cancer is the most common malignancy in young men, and the incidence is increasing in most countries worldwide. The vast majority of patients present with clinical stage I disease, and surveillance is being increasingly adopted as the preferred management strategy. At the time of diagnosis, patients on surveillance are often counselled about their risk of relapse based on risk factors present at diagnosis, but this risk estimate becomes less informative in patients that have survived a period of time without experiencing relapse.

Identifying the use and barriers to the adoption of renal tumour biopsy in the management of small renal masses.

Introduction: Renal tumour biopsies (RTBs) can provide the histology of small renal masses (SRMs) prior to treatment decision-making. However, many urologists are reluctant to use RTB as a standard of care. This study characterizes the current use of RTB in the management of SRMs and identifies barriers to a more widespread adoption.

Impact of oral hypoglycemic agents on mortality among diabetic patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer: A populationbased analysis.

Introduction: Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) accounts for 75-85% of all urothelial bladder cancers (UBC). Many UBC patients are also afflicted by diabetes mellitus (DM). It has been postulated that several oral hypoglycemic agents could impact disease-specific survival (DSS), but the data are sparse among NMIBC patients.

Medication use and kidney cancer survival: A population-based study.

Several studies demonstrate that use of commonly prescribed medications is associated with improved survival in various malignancies. Methods of classifying medication use in many of these studies, however, do not account for intermittent or cumulative use. Moreover, there are limited data in kidney cancer.

Cerebral Venous Thrombosis in Older Patients.

Background And Purpose: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is rare in older patients. We investigated whether clinical features and outcomes differ in older and younger patients.

Methods: We used data from a multicenter observational registry of consecutive adult patients with CVT admitted between 1987 and 2016.

Dysfunction in emotion processing underlies functional (psychogenic) dystonia.

Objective: We sought to determine whether abnormalities in emotion processing underlie functional (psychogenic) dystonia, one of the most common functional movement disorders.

Methods: Motor and emotion circuits were examined in 12 participants with functional dystonia, 12 with primary organic dystonia, and 25 healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging at 4T and a finger-tapping task (motor task), a basic emotion-recognition task (emotional faces task), and an intense-emotion stimuli task.

Results: There were no differences in motor task activation between groups.

Preventing clinical progression and need for treatment in patients on active surveillance for prostate cancer.

Purpose Of Review: Active surveillance is an established treatment option for men with localized, low-risk prostate cancer (CaP). It entails the postponement of immediate therapy with the option of delayed intervention upon disease progression. The rate of clinical progression and need for treatment on active surveillance is approximately 50% over 15 years.

Radical prostatectomy in patients aged 75 years or older: review of the literature.

Given the demographic trends toward a considerably longer life expectancy, the percentage of elderly patients with prostate cancer will increase further in the upcoming decades. Therefore, the question arises, should patients ≥75 years old be offered radical prostatectomy and under which circumstances? For treatment decision-making, life expectancy is more important than biological age. As a result, a patient's health and mental status has to be determined and radical treatment should only be offered to those who are fit.

Medication use and kidney cancer risk: A population-based study.

Background: Exposure to commonly prescribed medications may be associated with cancer risk. However, there is limited data in kidney cancer. Furthermore, methods of classifying cumulative medication exposure in previous studies may be prone to bias.

Transforming the Perioperative Treatment Paradigm in Non-Metastatic RCC-A Possible Path Forward.

In 2017, there is no adjuvant systemic therapy proven to increase overall survival in non-metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The anti-PD-1 antibody nivolumab improves overall survival in metastatic treatment refractory RCC and is generally tolerable. Mouse solid tumor models have revealed a benefit with a short course of neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade compared to adjuvant therapy.

Positive surgical margins during partial nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma: Results from Canadian Kidney Cancer information system (CKCis) collaborative.

Introduction: We sought to determine the incidence, risk factors, and prognosis for patients with positive surgical margin (PSM) during partial nephrectomy (PN) for renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Methods: From the Canadian Kidney Cancer information system (CKCis) database, a historical cohort of PN patients with PSM were identified and compared to negative surgical margin (NSM). Risk factors for PSM were examined through multivariable logistic regression.

Contemporary cost-consequence analysis of blue light cystoscopy with hexaminolevulinate in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

Introduction: Previous studies have suggested cost-savings using blue light cystoscopy (BLC) with hexaminolevulinate (HAL) compared to white light cystoscopy (WLC) during transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), secondary to improvements in recurrence and progression rates; however, these studies have used 'best case scenario' recurrence rate probabilities, thus decreasing generalizability of the findings. The objective of this study was to perform a contemporary cost-effectiveness assessment of BLC compared to WLC at the time of TURBT.

Methods: A decision and cost-effectiveness model with a five-year time horizon following initial TURBT was used.

The value of complementing administrative data with abstracted information on smoking and obesity: A study in kidney cancer.

Introduction: Variables, such as smoking and obesity, are rarely available in administrative databases. We explored the added value of including these data in an administrative database study evaluating the association of statin use with survival in kidney cancer.

Methods: We linked administrative data with chart-abstracted data on smoking and obesity for 808 patients undergoing nephrectomy for kidney cancer.

Critical appraisal of the application of propensity score methods in the urology literature.

Objectives: To determine whether studies that used propensity score (PS) methods in the urology literature provide sufficient detail to allow scientific reproducibility and whether appropriate statistical tests were used to obtain valid measures of effect.

Materials And Methods: We searched OVID Medline and the Science Citation Index from inception to November 2016 to identify studies that used PS methods in five general urology journals. From each included article, we extracted pertinent information related to the PS methodology, such as estimation of the PS, whether balance diagnostics were performed, and the statistical analysis performed.

HABP2 p.G534E variant in patients with family history of thyroid and breast cancer.

Familial Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC) has been described as a hereditary predisposition cancer syndrome associated with mutations in candidate genes including HABP2. Two of 20 probands from families with history of PTC and breast carcinoma (BC) were evaluated by whole exome sequencing (WES) revealing HABP2 p.G534E.