Oral 5-aminolevulinic acid in simultaneous photodynamic diagnosis of upper and lower urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma - a prospective audit.

UNLABELLED: What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? The idea of using photosensitizing agents to enhance visualization of cancer tissue dates back to 1900. 5-Aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) was first suggested for photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) of transitional cell cancer (TCC) of the bladder in 1992. Since then, PDD with intravesical application of 5-ALA or its ester hexaminolevulinate (Hexvix) has proven to be superior over standard white-light cystoscopy in detection of carcinoma in situ and dysplasia as well as enhancing margins of TCC. PDD of upper urinary tract TCC is under-studied because of trouble with delivery of the photosensitizer. Fluorescence after oral 5-ALA was initially reported in 1956. Oral 5-ALA for photodynamic therapy was suggested for upper urinary tract TCC in 1998 and for refractory non-muscle invasive bladder cancer in 2001. A study in 2012 on oral and intravesical application of 5-ALA for bladder PDD showed no difference in diagnostic accuracy for each modality. To our knowledge our series is the first report on use of oral 5-ALA for PDD in detection of upper urinary tract tumours. We published our initial results in 2010. We think that our recent audit is quite encouraging. PDD ureterorenoscopy resulted in detection of additional urothelial tumours that could have been missed by the conventional white-light endoscopy. We suggest that this technique should be used in large multicentre trials to replicate our results. OBJECTIVE: • To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of photodynamic diagnostic ureterorenoscopy after oral administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) for upper urinary tract urothelial cancers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: • In this audit, twenty-six patients underwent thirty-nine procedures (cystoscopy/ureterorenoscopy) following oral administration of 5-ALA for photodynamic diagnosis (PDD). • Twenty mg/kg body weight of 5-ALA was given orally 3-4 hours prior to the planned endoscopic visualisation. • Following standard white light cystoscopy and ureterorenoscopy, photodynamic diagnostic endoscopy was performed using D-light system (Olympus PDD cystoscope and 7.5Fr KARL STORZ PDD Flex-X ureterorenoscope) to detect fluorescence. • Biopsies were carried out from all suspicious areas, noting if lesions were detected under white or blue light or both. RESULTS: • A total of sixty-two biopsies were performed for suspicious urothelial lesions (35 bladder, 26 ureter/renal pelvis and 1 from prostatic urethra). • Of the 35 bladder biopsies, 11 lesions were seen under both white and blue light and 91% of these were malignant. • While 24 (68.5%) biopsies were taken from lesions seen only under blue light and 45.8% of these were malignant. • Similarly, of the 26 ureteric/renal pelvicalyceal biopsies, 11 were concurrent in both white and blue light and 100% of these were malignant. • While 10 (38.5%) lesions were seen only under blue light and 70% of these were malignant. CONCLUSIONS: • Photodynamic diagnosis using oral 5-ALA is safe and feasible with additional advantages of detecting lesions not visualised with conventional white light endoscopy. • This may translate into more complete treatment thereby decreasing subsequent recurrences and possibly progression of the upper urinary tract urothelial cancers.

Unmet Supportive Care Needs of Men With Locally Advanced and Metastatic Prostate Cancer on Hormonal Treatment: A Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Men affected by prostate cancer who are undergoing hormone therapy can endure a range of symptoms that can adversely affect quality of life. Little research has been conducted to date, to understand the specific unmet supportive care needs of this patient group within the context of current service delivery. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of unmet supportive care needs of men affected by prostate cancer on hormone therapy in the United Kingdom. METHODS: Mixed methods study recruited 31 men with ≥T3 prostate Cancer or worse and treated by hormone therapy. A small cross-sectional survey (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC] C30 and PR25, Self-Management Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Supportive Care Needs Survey) was used to inform the interview schedule. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and framework approach was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Complex unmet supportive care needs that were related to physical, psychological/emotional, intimacy/sexual, practical, health system/informational, existential, and patient/clinician communication needs are experienced. Men articulated that current healthcare delivery is failing to provide a holistic person-centered model of care. CONCLUSION: This is one of the few studies that have identified the unmet supportive care needs of men receiving hormone therapy for ≥T3 prostate Cancer or worse. The needs are multiple and far-ranging. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Despite national cancer reforms, unmet supportive care needs persist. The findings from this study may be central in the re-design of future services to optimize men's quality of life and satisfaction with care. Clinicians are encouraged to use these finding to help them optimize care delivery and individual quality of life.

Laser-induced autofluorescence spectroscopy: can it be of importance in detection of bladder lesions?

BACKGROUND: Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer can be missed during white light endoscopy in up to 50% of cases. We aimed to test whether or not we could find a difference between benign and cancerous tissue wavelengths using laser induced autofluorescence spectroscopy can increase cancer detection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analysed 67 tissue samples using spectral analysis. The WavSTAT (Spectra Science) optical biopsy device was used to record fluorescence spectra from biopsied tissue enabling calculation of an AUC for each spectrum, a measure of the mean spectral wavelength (λ¯ (nm)) and a dimensionless fluorescence ratio. Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the two groups. RESULTS: We found that 49.3% (33/67) of the tissue was benign, 44.8% (30/67) was CIS/cancerous tissue, and the remaining 4/67 samples were atypia (2) and dysplasia (2). The median AUC for the benign tissue was 19.53 (interquartile range [IQR]: 5.35-30.39) and that for CIS/cancerous tissue was 7.05 (IQR: 2.89-14.24) (P=0.002). The median wavelengths for the benign tissue and malignant tissue were 502.4nm (IQR: 500.3-504.3nm) and 505.2nm (IQR: 502.1-513.2nm), respectively (P=0.003). The median fluorescence ratio was 0.080 (IQR: 0.070-0.088) for benign tissue and 0.096 (IQR: 0.079-0.221) for CIS/cancerous tissue (P=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: We found statistical differences between the median AUC calculations and median wavelengths for the benign and cancerous tissue. We also found a statistical difference between the fluorescence ratios between the two tissue types. There seems to be a role for optical spectroscopy in verifying bladder lesions.