Total Margin Control Is Superior to Traditional Margin Assessment for Treatment of Low-Stage Penile Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Penile cancer is rare, with significant morbidity and limited literature assessing utility of peripheral and deep en face margin assessment (PDEMA) vs traditional margin assessment (vertical sections) on treatment outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a 32-year retrospective multicenter cohort study at 3 academic tertiary care centers. The cohort consisted of 189 patients with histologic diagnosis of in situ or T1a cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the penis at Brigham and Women's, Massachusetts General Hospital (1988-2020), and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (1995-2020) treated with PDEMA surgical excision, excision/circumcision, or penectomy/glansectomy. Local recurrence, metastasis, and disease-specific death were assessed via multivariable Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 189 patients. Median age at diagnosis was 62 years. Median tumor diameter was 1.3 cm. The following outcomes of interest occurred: 30 local recurrences, 13 metastases, and 5 disease-specific deaths. Primary tumors were excised with PDEMA (N = 30), excision/circumcision (N = 110), or penectomy/glansectomy (N = 49). Of patients treated with traditional margin assessment (non-PDEMA), 12% had narrow or positive margins. Five-year proportions were as follows with respect to local recurrence-free survival, metastasis-free survival, and disease-specific survival/progression-free survival, respectively: 100%, 100%, and 100% following PDEMA; 82%, 96%, and 99% following excision/circumcision; 83%, 91%, and 95% following penectomy/glansectomy. A limitation is that this multi-institutional cohort study was not externally validated. CONCLUSIONS: Initial results are encouraging that PDEMA surgical management effectively controls early-stage penile squamous cell carcinoma.

Promoting the use of the PI-QUAL score for prostate MRI quality: results from the ESOR Nicholas Gourtsoyiannis teaching fellowship.

OBJECTIVES: The Prostate Imaging Quality (PI-QUAL) score is a new metric to evaluate the diagnostic quality of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the prostate. This study assesses the impact of an intervention, namely a prostate MRI quality training lecture, on the participant's ability to apply PI-QUAL. METHODS: Sixteen participants (radiologists, urologists, physicists, and computer scientists) of varying experience in reviewing diagnostic prostate MRI all assessed the image quality of ten examinations from different vendors and machines. Then, they attended a dedicated lecture followed by a hands-on workshop on MRI quality assessment using the PI-QUAL score. Five scans assessed by the participants were evaluated in the workshop using the PI-QUAL score for teaching purposes. After the course, the same participants evaluated the image quality of a new set of ten scans applying the PI-QUAL score. Results were assessed using receiver operating characteristic analysis. The reference standard was the PI-QUAL score assessed by one of the developers of PI-QUAL. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in average area under the curve for the evaluation of image quality from baseline (0.59 [95 % confidence intervals: 0.50-0.66]) to post-teaching (0.96 [0.92-0.98]), an improvement of 0.37 [0.21-0.41] (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A teaching course (dedicated lecture + hands-on workshop) on PI-QUAL significantly improved the application of this scoring system to assess the quality of prostate MRI examinations. KEY POINTS: • A significant improvement in the application of PI-QUAL for the assessment of prostate MR image quality was observed after an educational intervention. • Appropriate training on image quality can be delivered to those involved in the acquisition and interpretation of prostate MRI. • Further investigation will be needed to understand the impact on improving the acquisition of high-quality diagnostic prostate MR examinations.

Validating the predictors of outcomes after radical cystectomy for bladder cancer.

BACKGROUND: An assessment of surgical risk is essential for patient counseling and decision making, and it can provide rationale adjustment for patient populations as health care moves from a fee-for-service to a value-based reimbursement model. The modified Frailty Index (mFI) has been proposed as a risk-stratification tool for radical cystectomy (RC), and the objective of the current study was to validate this potential use of the mFI using an institutional cohort. METHODS: A retrospective review of all patients who underwent RC for bladder cancer was conducted at the authors' institution from 2012 to 2016. In addition to detailed clinicopathologic and treatment parameters, patients were categorized according to the mFI, the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification. Covariates were analyzed to determine associations with 1-month complication rates (according to the Clavien-Dindo system), 3-month readmission rates, hospitalization length, and hospitalization costs. RESULTS: In total, 346 patients were included in the analysis. The overall complication rate was 56.6%, the major (Clavien grade ≥3) complication rate was 19.4%, and the readmission rate was 27.9%. Receiver operating curve analysis demonstrated a weak association of all indices with major complications after RC: the area under the curve was 0.535 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.460-0.611) for the ASA classification; 0.565 (95% CI, 0.485-0.645) for the CCI score; and 0.551 (95% CI, 0.471-0.631) for the mFI. There were no significant differences in the rate of major complications when stratifying the results according to the mFI, CCI, or ASA class. Length of hospitalization and associated costs were correlated with mFI. CONCLUSIONS: Frailty was not associated with postoperative complications and provided little additional predictive ability over the ASA classification and the CCI score. Further research is required to identify patients who are likely to suffer significant complications after RC.

The use of blue light flexible cystoscopy with hexaminolevulinate & the diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Blue light cystoscopy improves the detection of bladder cancer at time of transurethral resection of bladder tumor for nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer. This has translated to decreased tumor recurrence. Given this improvement in rigid cystoscopy, the question remains whether the use of blue light flexible cystoscopy (BLFC) in the surveillance setting provides the same benefits. This review aims to evaluate the recently reported Phase III prospective multicenter study of BLFC which evaluated the detection of bladder cancer during surveillance, which in its earliest reporting demonstrated improved detection of bladder cancer. This study evaluated 304 patients with findings of 63 confirmed malignancies, with 13 (20.6%) only identified by BLFC (p < 0.0001). The question still remains whether the improved detection rate will translate to improved clinical outcomes. Further, studies will be necessary to determine which patients will benefit from BLFC, optimal ways to incorporate into surveillance strategies and cost-effectiveness.