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Background: Serum levels of neutrophils, platelets, and lymphocytes have been recognized as factors related to poor prognosis for many solid tumors, including bladder cancer (BC). Objective: To evaluate the prognostic role of the combination of the neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and lymphocyte/monocyte ratio (LMR) in patients with high-risk non-muscle-invasive urothelial BC (NIMBC). Design, setting, and participants: A total of 1151 NMIBC patients who underwent first transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT) at 13 academic institutions between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2012 were included in this analysis. The median follow-up was 48 mo. Intervention: TURBT with intravesical chemotherapy or immunotherapy.

Introduction: We assess the effectiveness of intravesical instillation of hyaluronic acid (HA) and chondroitin sulphate (CS) as a non-antibiotic treatment option for prophylaxis of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) in female patients. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study involving 7 European institutions. We included patients with recurrent UTIs who received intravesical instillations of Ialuril (IBSA International) (50 mL HA 1.6% and CS 2% solution) between January 2010 and March 2012. Medication schedule, length of follow-up, recurrence infection time, number of UTIs/patients/year, patient quality of life, subjective symptoms score, and treatment-emergent side effects were recorded and analyzed. Results: In total, 157 women (mean age: 54.2 ± 4.1 years) were included in the analysis. All patients had at least 12 months followup. After 4 weekly and 5 monthly HA-CS bladder instillations, UTI episodes decreased from 4.13 ± 1.14 to 0.44 ± 0.50 (p = 0.01) at 12 months, while recurrent UTI time prolonged from 94.8 ± 25.1 days to 178.4 ± 37.3 days (p = 0.01) at 12 months. An improvement in symptoms and quality of life was achieved. A medium-depth pain after medication instillation was the most reported side effect. Regression model analysis showed significant risk factors in developing new UTI episodes: being more than 50 years old and having more than 4 UTI episodes per year (OR 3.41; CI 95%; p = 0.003 and OR 3.31;; p = 0.003, respectively). Retrospective design and lack of a control group represent two main limitations of the study. Conclusions: Restoring glycosaminoglycans bladder layer therapy is a promising non-antibiotic therapy to prevent recurrent UTIs.

Abbreviations & AcronymsObjectives: To investigate the pathological relationship between metabolic syndrome and peri-urethral fibrosis status secondary to chronic prostate inflammation. Methods: Peri-urethral prostate tissue from 80 consecutive patients who underwent retropubic radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer was analyzed. Patients were divided in two groups according to whether or not they had a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. A 16-peri-urethral core bench biopsy was carried out on each radical prostatectomy specimen to evaluate the extent of peri-urethral inflammatory infiltrate, and collagen and elastin amount. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to test the association between variables. Furthermore, the data were used to define a bivariate logistic regression model in which the presence (>50% collagen amount for each patients) or absence (≤50% collagen amount) of fibrosis was analyzed after adjusting for clinical and pathological variables. Results: A significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of International Prostatic Symptoms Score (P < 0.05) and urodynamics findings (all P < 0.05). Patients with metabolic syndrome showed a more extended inflammatory infiltrate and higher periurethral collagen amount, along with a lower peri-urethral elastin amount (all P < 0.05). A positive correlation was observed between inflammation, International Prostatic Symptoms Score, Bladder Outlet Obstruction Index and collagen amount, whereas inflammation was inversely correlated with elastin amount. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, prostate inflammation and metabolic syndrome were the only independent predictors of periurethral fibrosis (OR 1.73, 1.52, respectively). Conclusions: The present findings suggest that metabolic syndrome might represent an independent risk factor for prostate inflammation and fibrotic changes secondary to inflammation within the peri-urethral prostatic tissue.

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Abbreviations & Acronyms 5-ASA = 5-aminosalicylic bwk = biweekly CS = chondroitin sulphate GAG = glycosaminoglycans HA = hyaluronic acid IL-6 = interleukin-6 LE = evidence level LPS = lipopolysaccharide NGF = nerve growth factor PS = protamine sulfate PSP = pentosanpolysulphate RCT = randomized controlled trial rUTI = recurrent urinary tract infections SAGE = semi-synthetic glycosaminoglycans ethers sNOCC = N-sulphonato-N,O -carboxymethylchitosan UTI = urinary tract infections Abstract: Restoring the bladder glycosaminoglycans layer has recently been introduced as prophylactic treatment for recurrent urinary tract infections. Herein, we analyze the latest main clinical and experimental studies to support this therapeutic option. An electronic research was carried out in the most common databases in order to identify any published studies. Retrieved studies were categorized as experimental or clinical according to their setting. For the clinical studies, the evidence level was assigned. A total of 13 laboratory studies showed how bladder glycosaminoglycans instillations act: attenuation of the inflammation process, reduction of bladder contraction amplitude and frequency, reduction of epithelium damage, and lower bacterial growth in urine and tissue samples. Likewise, two randomized clinical trials with grade 2 evidence level and two case series with grade 4 evidence level reported glycosaminoglycans as an alternative to reduce episodes and to prolong recurrence time in patients with recurrent urinary tract infections. At least 12 months of follow up was completed. No serious adverse events were reported. Compared with a placebo, in one randomized study a significantly higher maximum cystometric capacity was obtained, whereas in the other study a significant increase in quality of life scores was reported too. An improvement in the urinary symptoms score was reported by the two randomized trials. Although the clinical use of glycosaminoglycans replacement therapy for recurrent urinary tract infections is supported by a small number of clinical studies with different evidence levels, the laboratory studies show that glycosaminoglycans could have a protective role against inflammatory factors, supporting the idea "to restore the glycosaminoglycans bladder layer to prevent chronic disease course".

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Minerva Urologica e nefrologica october 2017 in the range of 40%. 1 Such cancer detection rate (cDr) drops to approximately 25% in the setting of screening programs, i.e. patients with serum PSa between 2.5 and 10 ng/ml. 2 Predictive models that combine PSa and Dre with age and prostate volume, other two readily available clinical parameters that correlate with the risk of being diagnosed with P rostate biopsy (PBx) is the standard method for diagnosing prostate cancer (Pca) however the diagnostic yield of this procedure remains low. as a matter of fact, in current clinical practice the diagnostic yield of a first extended PBx prompted by an elevated serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level and/or an abnormal digital rectal examination (Dre) is