Stratifying RCC patients into high-, intermediate-, and low-risk subgroups provides a clinically useful system for predicting outcome and provides a unique tool for risk assignment and outcome analysis. Subclassifying RCC into well-defined risk groups should allow better patient counseling and identification of both NM-HR subgroups that need adjuvant treatment and nonresponders who need alternative therapies.

A novel system for staging and predicting survival for RCC integrating clinical variables is offered. UISS is simple to use and is superior to stage alone in differentiating patients' survival. Our data suggests that UISS is an important prognostic tool for counseling patients with various stages of kidney cancer. Further prospective large-scale validation with external data is awaited.

The stratification in three main renal cell carcinoma histologic subtypes as defined by the 1997 UICC-American Joint Committee on Cancer consensus should not be considered a major prognostic variable comparable to TNM stage, Fuhrman grade and ECOG PS.

Currently patients with localized and metastatic renal cell carcinoma have had improvements in outlook and the therapeutic options available have expanded.

Currently patients with localized and metastatic renal cell carcinoma have had improvements in outlook and the therapeutic options available have expanded.

No abstract

The impact of prostate biopsy on patient well-being begins while waiting for the scheduled procedure. Shortening the anticipation period before results are disclosed and administering pre-biopsy anxiety decreasing measures may benefit patients. Analgesic therapy is recommended in younger patients, those reporting moderate to severe intraoperative pain and those with known prostatic inflammatory infiltrate. The risk of acute erectile dysfunction should be discussed cautiously with patients who are potent before biopsy.

This study defines the general applicability of the UISS for predicting survival in patients with RCC. The UISS is an accurate predictor of survival for patients with localized RCC applicable to external databases. Although the UISS may be useful for patients with metastatic RCC, it may be less accurate in this subset of patients due to the heterogeneity of patients and treatments.