Quality of life in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms associated with BPH: change over time in real-life practice according to treatment--the QUALIPROST study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate change in quality of life (QoL) and symptoms in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms/benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS/BPH) in conditions of current clinical practice. METHODS: Prospective, longitudinal, multicenter open-label study was carried out in urology outpatient clinics. Patients were ≥40 years of age with an International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) score ≥ 8. QoL and symptoms were measured at baseline and 6 months using the Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Impact Index (BII) and the IPSS. RESULTS: 1713 patients were included for analysis. Mean (SD) IPSS and BII scores at baseline were 16.8 (5.4) and 6.8 (2.6), respectively. 8.9 % (n = 153) of study participants did not receive treatment (watchful waiting, WW), 70.3 % (n = 1204) were prescribed monotherapy (alpha-adrenergic blockers [AB]; phytotherapy [PT, of which 95.2 % was the hexanic extract of Serenoa repens, HESr]; or 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors [5ARI]), and 20.8 % (n = 356) received combined treatment (AB + 5ARI; AB + HESr; others). At 6 months, improvements in QoL were similar across the different medical treatment (MT) groups, both for monotherapy (AB: mean improvement [SD] of 2.4 points [2.4]; PT: 1.9 [2.4]; 5ARI: 2.5 [2.3]) and combined therapy (AB + 5ARI: 3.1 [2.9]; AB + PT: 3.1 [2.5]). There were no clinically significant differences between MT groups and all showed significant improvement over WW (p < 0.05). HESr showed similar efficacy to AB and 5ARI both as monotherapy and in combination with AB. Results on the IPSS were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Improvements in QoL and symptoms were equivalent across the medical treatments most widely used in real-life practice to manage patients with moderate or severe LUTS. HESr showed an equivalent efficacy to AB and 5ARI with fewer side effects.

Recurrence at three months and high-grade recurrence as prognostic factor of progression in multivariate analysis of T1G2 bladder tumors.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the risk factors for disease progression in the frequent subgroup of Stage T1G2 (World Health Organization 1973) bladder tumors using an analysis of a large cohort of patients with Stage T1G2 disease. METHODS: A cohort of 616 patients with Stage T1G2 were treated with transurethral resection and random bladder biopsies. The mean follow-up was 4.2 years. Univariate and multivariate analyses were done using Cox regression analysis. The independent variables were multiplicity, association with carcinoma in situ (CIS), tumor size, tumor recurrence at 3 or 6 months, tumor grade, and association with CIS at first recurrence. The dependent variable was progression to muscle-invasive disease. RESULTS: Progression to muscle-invasive disease was identified in 28 of the 616 patients (4.5%). On multivariate analysis, when considering recurrence at 3 months, this factor was the principal prognostic factor, with a relative risk of 4.0 (95% confidence interval 1.2-13.3), followed by the presence of high-grade disease or CIS at first recurrence (relative risk 2.8, 95% confidence interval 1.3-5.8) and CIS associated with the primary tumor (relative risk 1.8, 95% confidence interval 1.1-2.9). When considering recurrence at 6 months, more prognostic factors were involved for progression, including as multiple tumors, CIS associated with the primary tumor, recurrence at 6 months, and the presence of high-grade disease or CIS at the first recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: In primary urothelial T1G2 bladder cancer, recurrence at 3 months was the main prognostic factor related to progression. Additional factors were the association of CIS with the primary tumor and the presence of high-grade disease and/or CIS at first recurrence.

Multivariate analysis of clinical parameters of synchronous primary superficial bladder cancer and upper urinary tract tumor.

PURPOSE: We determined the incidence and characteristic of synchronous upper urinary tract tumors (UUTTs) in patients with primary superficial bladder carcinoma and evaluated the characteristics of bladder tumors related to UUTTs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of 1,529 patients with primary superficial bladder carcinoma who underwent initial examination of the upper urinary tract with excretory urography. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis using logistic regression. Variables evaluated and related to the incidence of UUTT were multiplicity, carcinoma in situ, bladder tumor size, localization of tumor in the bladder, and tumor grade and stage. RESULTS: A total of 28 patients (1.8%) had simultaneous bladder tumor and UUTT. UUTTs showed no preferred location and 17.9% were multiple. Of UUTTs 46% were invasive and almost 87% were grade 2 or 3. The only significant variable related to UUTT was bladder tumor in the trigone (RR 5.8, 95% IC 2.18 to 15.9, p <0.0005). Of 147 tumors located in the trigone 11 (7.5%) were associated with UUTT, corresponding to 41% of the UUTTs first diagnosed. If multiplicity and tumors in the trigone (551 cases) had been considered, 66.7% of tumors would have been diagnosed. CONCLUSIONS: Synchronous UUTT and superficial bladder tumor are uncommon but 46% are invasive. Considering the possible examination of the upper urinary tract only in patients with tumor in the trigone or with multiple bladder tumors 41.4% or 69% of UUTTs, respectively, would have been diagnosed. Patients with tumor in the trigone are at almost 6-fold higher risk for a synchronous tumor in the upper urinary tract.

Patient tolerance during outpatient flexible cystoscopy--a prospective, randomized, double-blind study comparing plain lubrication and lidocaine gel.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the tolerance of flexible cystoscopy with topical anesthetic versus simple lubrication when the assigned lubricant is instilled 5 min before the exploration. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 185 consecutive patients were randomly assigned either to simple lubrication (Group 1) or to lidocaine hydrochloride gel (Group 2). Thirteen patients had some kind of difficulty during exploration (stenosis) that required additional manipulation or electrocoagulation for small relapses and were excluded from the final analysis, leaving 172 patients suitable for inclusion. After the intervention, all patients were surveyed regarding their discomfort and pain levels using a verbal scale and a visual analog scale ranging from zero to 10. A chi2 analysis was performed for comparison of qualitative covariables, and quantitative covariables were compared using Student's t-test. RESULTS: The 172 patients were evenly distributed between the two groups. Of those in Group 1, 89% noted little or no discomfort, compared to 84% in Group 2. Some pain or intense pain was noted by 10% and 16% in Groups 1 and 2, respectively (p > 0.05). The average value on the visual analog scale was 2.10 and 1.97 in Groups 1 and 2, respectively (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: There are no differences in the perception of discomfort and pain by patients when anesthetic lubricant or simple lubrication are used if the waiting time before the exploration is 5 min.