Upper tract urothelial carcinoma and bladder cancer in review in this number of International Brazilian Journal of Urology

Abstract

and Egypt, and as usual the editor´s comment highlights some of them.In the present issue we present two important reviews about upper urothelial carcinoma (UUC) and bladder cancer. The paper about UUC of the group of Dr. Sharma from India in page 406 shows a very complete systematic review about the topic (1). The authors shows that the tumor grade, stage, presence of lymphovascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, hydronephrosis, variant histology, sessile architecture, margin positivity and multifocality were associated with poor recurrence free survival (RFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS). Presence of carcinoma in situ was associated with poor RFS and CSS but not OS. Tumor necrosis was associated with worst CSS and OS but not RFS. Tumor location was not a predictor of any of the survival parameters. Dr. Korkes and colleagues from Brazil and USA in page 397 (2) in a interesting narrative review about bladder cancer shows that patients with low-grade-non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer that TURBTs, chemoablation, BCG immunoablation, partial cystectomy, radical cystectomy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are attractive modalities to treat them effectively and proposes an algorithm to overcome these challenges. The editor in chief would like to highlight the following works too:Dr. Mazzucchi and colleagues from Brazil and Canada, presented in page 456 (3) a nice review about the single use flexible ureteroscopes and concluded that these ureteroscopes are lighter and have superior quality of image when compared to fiberoptic ones and that there are no definite data showing a higher stone-free rate or less complications with the use of single-use flexible ureteroscopes.Dr. Sobrinho and colleagues from the Urogenital Research Unit from Brazil performed in page 561 (4) a interesting translational study about the lower pole anatomy in anomalous kidneys and concluded that the knowledge of spatial anatomy of lower pole is of utmost importance during endourologic procedures in patients with kidney anomalies. The horseshoe kidneys had more restrictive anatomic factors in lower pole than the complete ureteral duplication.