To our knowledge this is the largest cohort in which the impact of upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma tumor location on cancer specific mortality was examined. At nephroureterectomy renal pelvis tumors had significantly more advanced T and N stages compared to ureteral tumors. However, after adjustment for stage, grade and other covariates tumor location did not independently predict cancer specific mortality. Thus, the biological behavior of renal pelvis vs ureteral tumors is the same after nephroureterectomy as long as stage, grade, and other patient and tumor characteristics are accounted for.

BACKGROUND: Previous reports indicated that African-American men with testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) have more aggressive tumor characteristics and less favorable outcomes than other men. The authors of this report evaluated the effects of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on stage distribution, overall mortality (OM), and cancerspecific mortality (CSM) in men with TGCTs. METHODS: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was used to identify 22,553 men who were diagnosed with TGCTs between 1988 and 2006. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were generated to predict OM and CSM. Covariates of the analyses included race, SES, age, histologic subtype, disease stage, procedure type, SEER registry, and year of diagnosis. The interaction between race and SES also was examined. RESULTS: Overall, there were 516 African-American men, 21,090 Caucasian men, and 947 men of other races. African-Americans (14.9%) and individuals with low SES (10.7%) had a higher proportion of distant stage disease. CSM and OM rates were significantly higher for African-American patients and for patients who resided in low SES counties. Multivariate analyses revealed that African-American men and men with low SES were more likely to die of OM and CSM relative to Caucasian men (P < .001) and men with high SES (P < .001), respectively. The interaction between race and SES was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: African-American race and low SES appeared to predispose men to more advanced disease stages and to higher OM and CSM rates. These observations may warrant race-specific and/or SES-specific adjustments in the treatment of TGCT. Cancer 2011;117:4277-

BACKGROUND. Patients treated with radical cystectomy represent a very heterogeneous group with respect to cancer-specific and other-cause mortality. Comorbidities and comorbidity-associated events represent very important causes of mortality in those individuals. The authors examined the rates of cancer-specific and other-cause mortality in a population-based radical cystectomy cohort. METHODS. The authors identified 11,260 patients treated with radical cystectomy for urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder between 1988 and 2006 within 17 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries. Patients were stratified into 20 strata according to patient age and tumor stage at radical cystectomy. Smoothed Poisson regression models were fitted to obtain estimates of cancer-specific and other-cause mortality rates at specific time points after radical cystectomy. RESULTS. After stratification according to disease stage and patient age, cancer-specific mortality emerged as the main cause of mortality in all patient strata. Nonetheless, at 5 years after radical cystectomy, between 8.5% and 27.1% of deaths were attributable to othercause mortality. The 3 most common causes of other-cause mortality were other malignancies, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The most prominent effect on cancer-specific mortality was exerted by locally advanced bladder cancer stages. Conversely, age was the main determinant of other-cause mortality. Interestingly, even after adjusting for bladder cancer pathologic stage, cancer-specific mortality was higher in older individuals than their younger counterparts. CONCLUSIONS. The current study provides a valuable graphical aid for prediction of cancer-specific and other-cause mortality according to disease stage and patient age. It can help clinicians to better stratify the risk-benefit ratio of radical cystectomy. Hopefully, these findings will be considered in treatment decision making and during informed consent before radical cystectomy. Cancer 2011;117:103-9.

No abstract

No abstract

American Joint Committee on Cancer stage combined with tumor grade is the simplest, most accurate cancer specific mortality prediction rule after primary tumor excision for penile squamous cell carcinoma. This method is also more accurate than 2 previous cancer specific mortality prediction rules.

Robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery comes at a high cost but can become cost-effective in mostly high-volume centers with high-volume surgeons. The device when utilized to its maximum potential and with eventual market-driven competition can become affordable.

No abstract