Oncologic benefits of laparoscopic radical nephroureterectomy (LNU) are unclear. We aimed to evaluate the impact of surgical approach for radical nephroureterectomy on oncologic outcomes in patients with locally advanced upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).
Of 426 patients who underwent radical nephroureterectomy at five medical centers between February 1995 and February 2017, we retrospectively investigated oncological outcomes in 229 with locally advanced UTUC (stages cT3-4 and/or cN+). The surgical approach was classified as open nephroureterectomy (ONU) or LNU, and oncologic outcomes, including intravesical recurrence-free survival (RFS), visceral RFS, cancer-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS), were compared between the groups. The inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW)-adjusted Cox-regression analyses was performed to evaluate the impact of LNU on the prognosis.
Of the 229 patients, 48 (21%) underwent LNU. There were significant differences in patient backgrounds, including preoperative renal function, lymph-node involvement, lymphovascular invasion, and surgical margins, between the groups. Before the background adjustment, intravesical RFS, visceral RFS, CSS, and OS were significantly inferior in the ONU group than in the LNU group. However, in the IPTW-adjusted Cox-regression analysis, no significant differences were observed in intravesical RFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.65; P = 0.476), visceral RFS (HR, 0.46; P = 0.109), CSS (HR, 0.48; P = 0.233), and OS (HR, 0.40; P = 0.147).
Surgical approaches were not independently associated with prognosis in patients with locally advanced UTUC.
International journal of clinical oncology. 2018 Feb 12 [Epub ahead of print]
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Koichi Kido, Shingo Hatakeyama, Naoki Fujita, Hayato Yamamoto, Yuki Tobisawa, Tohru Yoneyama, Takahiro Yoneyama, Yasuhiro Hashimoto, Takuya Koie, Ikuya Iwabuchi, Masaru Ogasawara, Toshiaki Kawaguchi, Chikara Ohyama
Department of Urology, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan., Department of Urology, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan. ., Department of Advanced Transplant and Regenerative Medicine, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan., Department of Urology, Aomori Prefectural Central Hospital, Aomori, Japan.