Small Renal Masses: The Evolving Histologic, Imaging, and Genomic Landscapes.

According to the American Cancer Society, it is currently estimated that approximately 81,800 new cases of kidney cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2023 [...].

Performance Feedback May Not Improve Radical Prostatectomy Outcomes: The Surgical Report Card (SuRep) Study.

PURPOSE: Oncologic, urinary, and sexual outcomes are important to patients receiving prostate cancer surgery. The objective of this study was to determine if providing surgical report cards (SuReps) to surgeons resulted in improved patient outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective before-and-after study was conducted at The Ottawa Hospital. A total of 422 consecutive patients undergoing radical prostatectomy were enrolled. The intervention was provision of report cards to surgeons. The control cohort was patients treated before report card feedback (pre-SuRep), and the intervention cohort was patients treated after report card feedback (post-SuRep). The primary outcomes were postoperative erectile function, urinary continence, and positive surgical margins. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics were similar between groups. Almost all patients (99%) were continent and the majority (59%) were potent prior to surgery. Complete 1-year followup was available for 400 patients (95%). Nerve sparing surgery increased from 70% pre-SuRep to 82% post-SuRep (p=0.01). There was a nonstatistically significant increase in the proportion of patients with a positive surgical margin post-SuRep (31% pre-SuRep vs 39% post-SuRep, p=0.08). There was no difference in postoperative erectile function (17% vs 18%, p=0.7) and a decrease in continence (75% vs 65%, p=0.02) at 1 year postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: The SuRep platform allows accurate reporting of surgical outcomes that can be used for patient counseling. However, the provision of surgical report cards did not improve functional or oncologic outcomes. Longer durations of feedback, report card modifications, or targeted interventions are likely necessary to improve outcomes.

Are renal tumour scoring systems better than clinical judgement at predicting partial nephrectomy complexity?

INTRODUCTION: We aimed to determine how renal tumour scoring systems, such as RENAL, PADUA, and Centrality (C)-index, compare to clinical judgement at predicting time required for tumour removal and kidney reconstruction during partial nephrectomy. METHODS: A consecutive cohort of partial nephrectomy patients treated at The Ottawa Hospital, a tertiary care uro-oncological centre, was retrospectively reviewed. Preoperative axial images were reviewed by four experienced urological oncologists who independently rated the complexity of a partial nephrectomy from 1-10 to generate a clinical judgement score. Two independent reviewers determined the RENAL, PADUA, and C-index scores. The time to complete tumour resection and renal reconstruction during partial nephrectomy was prospectively recorded. RESULTS: During the study period, 104 partial nephrectomies were performed. The mean partial nephrectomy complexity score based on clinical judgement was 3.4 (standard deviation [SD] 2.1) out of 10. There was good agreement between surgeons in assessing tumour complexity (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65, 0.78). The mean RENAL score was 6.7 (SD 1.6) out of a maximum of 12, the mean PADUA score was 8.5 (SD 1.5) out of a maximum of 14, and the mean C-index score was 3.8 (SD 2). Mean resection and reconstruction time was 24 minutes (SD 10 minutes). The correlation between clinical judgement score and time was 0.27 (p=0.005). The correlation between renal tumour scoring systems and time was 0.20 (p=0.04) for RENAL, 0.21 (p=0.03) for C-index, and 0.26 (p=0.007) for PADUA. RENAL and PADUA scores were significantly associated with surgical and total complications. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of variance in ischemia time is not explained by clinical judgement or renal tumour scoring systems. Renal tumour scoring systems were not better than the clinical judgement of urological oncologists at predicting ischemia time during partial nephrectomy.

Diastereoselective synthesis of some novel benzopyranopyridine derivatives.

BACKGROUND: The formation of novel N-substituted-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro[1,3]-dioxolo-[6,7]-5H-[1]benzopyrano [3,4-c]pyridines were observed unexpectedly during the acid-mediated ketal removal of ethylenedioxy ketal protected 4-piperidones. The literature revealed that benzopyranopyridine derivatives are of scientific interest and some exhibit interesting biological activities. Diastereomeric resolution was utilized to isolate optically pure chiral molecules. RESULTS: The acid catalyzed deprotection of N-substituted-4,4-ethylenedioxy-3- [(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yloxy)methyl]piperidines, prepared by condensation of the corresponding phenols and mesylate derivatives, unexpectedly resulted in cyclodehydration leading to new benzopyrano derivatives, N-substituted-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro[1,3]-dioxolo-[6,7]-5H-[1]benzopyrano [3,4-c]pyridines. The process involves the deprotection of the carbonyl protecting group, and then the cyclization reaction occurs followed by dehydration to give the final product.These N-substituted-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro[1,3]-dioxolo-[6,7]-5H-[1]benzopyrano [3,4-c] pyridines were dealkylated giving the corresponding N-unsubstituted derivatives. The cis-1,3,4,4a,5,10b-hexahydro-[6,7]-2H-[1]benzopyrano [3,4-c]pyridine derivative was also obtained from the N-benzylated-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro[1,3]-dioxolo-[6,7]-5H-[1]benzopyrano [3,4-c]pyridine via catalytic hydrogenation. The resolution of the enantiomers was carried out using D-(-)-mandelic acid as chiral reagent. The absolute configuration of the S,S-mandelate salt derivative was determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis. CONCLUSION: The approach led to the construction of N-substituted-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro[1,3]-dioxolo-[6,7]-5H-[1]benzopyrano [3,4-c] pyridines ring systems involving the one-pot deprotection, cyclization and dehydration of N-substituted-4,4-ethylenedioxy-3- [(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yloxy)methyl]piperidines. The hydrogenation of the N-benzylated benzopyrano [3,4-c]pyridine derivative followed by resolution led to the formation of a new compound.