We sought to examine the effect of tumor location on the prognosis of patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) treated with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU). This retrospective study came from the Taiwan UTUC Collaboration Group, which consisted of 2658 patients at 15 institutions in Taiwan from 1988 to 2019. Patients with kidney-sparing management, both renal pelvic and ureteral tumors, as well as patients lacking complete data were excluded; the remaining 1436 patients were divided into two groups: renal pelvic tumor (RPT) and ureteral tumor (UT), with 842 and 594 patients, respectively. RPT was associated with more aggressive pathological features, including higher pathological T stage (p < 0.001) and the presence of lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.002), whereas patients with UT often had synchronous bladder tumor (p < 0.001), and were more likely to bear multiple lesions (p = 0.001). Our multivariate analysis revealed that UT was a worse prognostic factor compared with RPT (overall survival: HR 1.408, 95% CI 1.121–1.767, p = 0.003; cancer-specific survival: HR 1.562, 95% CI 1.169–2.085, p = 0.003; disease-free survival: HR 1.363, 95% CI 1.095–1.697, p = 0.006; bladder-recurrence-free survival: HR 1.411, 95% CI 1.141–1.747, p = 0.002, respectively). Based on our findings, UT appeared to be more malignant and had a worse prognosis than RPT.
Purpose: Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) both have been proved to correlate with oncologic outcomes in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). We hypothesize that integrating SII with LVI may be an aid for risk-stratification of prognosis. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of combined SII and LVI in patients with localized UTUC. Patients and Methods: A retrospective analysis of clinicopathological data of 554 UTUC patients who underwent radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) was conducted. The SII was calculated using the equation (preoperative serum neutrophil*platelet/ lymphocyte). Use of Kaplan-Meier analyses and Cox proportional hazards models were to evaluate associations of combining SII and LVI with overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and progression-free survival (PFS). Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was applied to estimate predictive ability of combining SII and LVI for oncological outcomes. Results: Positive LVI was significantly associated with advanced stage, high grade, necrosis, lymph node metastasis, and high-level SII. Positive LVI and high-level SII co-existence was significantly associated with unfavorable OS, CSS, and PFS in Kaplan-Meier analyses (all p < 0.001) and was an independent indicator of OS, CSS, and PFS (HR [95%
Tumor multifocality and location are prognostic factors for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). However, confounding effects can appear when these two factors are analyzed together. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the impact of tumor distribution on the outcomes of multifocal UTUC after radical nephroureterectomy. From the 2780 UTUC patients in the Taiwan UTUC Collaboration Group, 685 UTUC cases with multifocal tumors (defined as more than one tumor lesion in unilateral upper urinary tract) were retrospectively included and divided into three groups: multiple renal pelvic tumors, multiple ureteral tumors, and synchronous renal pelvic and ureteral tumors included 164, 152, and 369 patients, respectively. We found the prevalence of carcinoma in situ was the highest in the synchronous group. In multivariate survival analyses, tumor distribution showed no difference in cancer-specific and disease-free survival, but there was a significant difference in bladder recurrence-free survival. The synchronous group had the highest bladder recurrence rate. In summary, tumor distribution did not influence the cancer-specific outcomes of multifocal UTUC, but synchronous lesions led to a higher rate of bladder recurrence than multiple renal pelvic tumors. We believe that the distribution of tumors reflects the degree of malignant involvement within the urinary tract, but has little significance for survival or disease progression.
The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of pre-treatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) on bladder recurrence in patients with impaired renal function following radical nephrouretectomy (RNU) to treat pure upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Retrospective data of 362 patients with pure UTUC who underwent RNU between 2008 and 2019 were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier analyses were performed to evaluate the association of preoperative NLR and estimation of the glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) with intravesical recurrence-free survival (IVRF). Furthermore, multivariate analyses were conducted to determine independent factors for predicting IVRF. In the retrospective cohort study of 362 patients, 103 patients (28%) had intravesical recurrence in a median follow-up of 50.1 months; among those, 85 (83%) developed bladder recurrence within two years after RNU. The Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients exhibiting lower eGFR and higher NLR showed significantly poor IVRF rates (P=0.044). The simultaneous presence of eGFR <45 and NLR >3.8 was an independent factor for the shorter IVRF time in multivariate analysis with Cox's proportional hazards model. Most intravesical recurrences occurred within two years after RNU, particularly in pre-existing poor eGFR patients with preoperative high NLR. Moreover, pre-existing moderate to severe CKD synchronous with pre-operative NLR >3.8 was demonstrated as an independent factor for subsequent bladder recurrence in patients with pure UTUC following RNU. Therefore, such high-risk patients ought to be provided with close bladder monitoring during the follow-up.
The clinical efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is unclear. We aimed to assess the therapeutic outcomes of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with advanced UTUC (pT3-T4) after radical nephroureterectomy (RNU). We retrospectively reviewed the data of 2108 patients from the Taiwan UTUC Collaboration Group between 1988 and 2018. Comprehensive clinical features, pathological characteristics, and survival outcomes were recorded. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and disease-free survival (DFS). Of the 533 patients with advanced UTUC included, 161 (30.2%) received adjuvant chemotherapy. In the multivariate analysis, adjuvant chemotherapy was significantly associated with a reduced risk of overall death (hazard ratio (HR), 0.599; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.419–0.857; p = 0.005), cancer-specific mortality (HR, 0.598; 95% CI, 0.391–0.914; p = 0.018), and cancer recurrence (HR, 0.456; 95% CI, 0.310–0.673; p < 0.001). The Kaplan–Meier survival analysis revealed that patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy had significantly better five-year OS (64% vs. 50%, p = 0.002), CSS (70% vs. 62%, p = 0.043), and DFS (60% vs. 48%, p = 0.002) rates compared to those who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy. In conclusion, adjuvant chemotherapy after RNU had significant therapeutic benefits on OS, CSS, and DFS in advanced UTUC.
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