Does bilateral Wilms' tumor involving the collecting system in children have a worse prognosis?

BACKGROUND: The literature on nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) in children with bilateral Wilms' tumors (BWT) involving the collection system is mostly comprised of case reports. The present study aimed to summarize the clinical characteristics, treatments, and prognosis of children with BWT involving the collecting system admitted to our pediatric surgery center compared with those whose tumors did not involve the collecting system. A secondary aim was to discuss how to preserve more kidney parenchyma and prevent long-term renal failure under the premise of preventing tumor recurrence. METHODS: Patients with BWT admitted to our pediatric surgery center between January 2008 and June 2022 were reviewed. All included patients were grouped according to the relationship between the tumor and collecting system according to the intraoperative findings. Group I included children with tumor infiltrating the collecting system, group II included children with tumor growing into the collecting system, and group III included children whose tumor did not involve the collecting system. The clinical features, treatments and prognosis of the patients were analyzed. RESULTS: Seventy patients were enrolled, including 20 patients with 25 sides of tumors infiltrating the collecting system in group I,10 patients with 13 sides of tumors growing into the collecting system in group II, and 40 patients in group III. There was no significant difference in patients age and gender between group I and group II. In total, 20 patients in group I and 9 patients in group II had partial response (PR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In group I, 22 of 25 sides of tumors underwent NSS; in group II, 11 of 13 sides of tumors underwent NSS. During an average follow-up of 47 months, in group I, 6/20 patients relapsed and 2/20 patients died; in group II, 3/10 patients relapsed and 1/10 patient died. There was no significant difference in 4-year overall survival (OS) rate among groups I, II and III (86.36% vs. 85.71%vs. 91.40%, P = 0.902). CONCLUSIONS: To preserve renal parenchyma, NSS is feasible for children with BWT involving the collecting system. There was no significant difference in postoperative long-term OS between patients with BWT involving the collecting system and not involving the collecting system.

Can digital finance development drive green transformation in manufacturing? Evidence from China.

Digital finance is a product of emerging technology-enabled innovation in financial services and has a critical impact on the green transformation of the manufacturing industry. We propose a new efficiency measurement model based on the slacks-based measure (SBM) to measure the efficiency of green transformation on regional manufacturing. Chinese interprovincial data from 2010 to 2019 were obtained for the study. In addition, we estimated the effect of digital finance on green transformation of manufacturing using a benchmark panel model. Finally, considering the regional heterogeneity and spatial effects of green transformation efficiency in the manufacturing industry, we constructed a spatial Durbin model based on an economic-geographic nested spatial weight matrix to analyze the spatial influence of digital finance on green transformation in the manufacturing industry. The results show that the green transformation of the manufacturing industry has significant positive spatial spillover effects owing to the existence of competition, demonstration, and economic correlation effects among regions.

Hydronephrosis in pediatric horseshoe kidneys: a comparative analysis of open and laparoscopic pyeloplasty and the influence of obstruction causes.

Background: Horseshoe kidney (HSK) represents a unique challenge for performing pyeloplasty due to its anomalous anatomy. Our study aimed to report our results in treating children with hydronephrosis in HSK and to investigate the differences in prognosis based on the cause of obstruction and the surgical approach. We also aimed to share our experiences by characterizing the success rates and complications after surgery. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of hydronephrosis patients with HSK who were treated with pyeloplasty from August 2009 to June 2022. The patients were grouped according to different surgical methods and causes of obstruction, and then the clinical characteristics and outcomes were analyzed. Results: Thirty-one patients were included in this retrospective cohort observational study, and surgical success was achieved in 80.6% (25/31) of patients. There was no significant difference in complications between open pyeloplasty (OP) and laparoscopic pyeloplasty (LP) groups (2/16 vs. 4/15, P=0.374). At 6 and 12 months postoperatively, both OP and LP groups experienced a decrease in anteroposterior pelvic diameter (APD) and the ratio of APD to the thickness of renal parenchyma (P/C ratio), accompanied by an increase in renal parenchymal thickness. Two patients of reobstruction were caused by missed crossing vessels in primary operation. The success rate of patients with crossing vessels (62.5%) was significantly lower than that of patients without crossing vessels (100%) (P=0.018). Conclusions: Our study found that intrinsic obstruction, crossing vessels, and high insertion were the main causes of hydronephrosis in HSK, with missed crossing vessels being the primary cause of reobstruction. Our results demonstrate that both OP and LP are safe and effective in treating hydronephrosis in HSK patients.