Clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of subsequent upper tract urothelial carcinoma in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer patients after renal transplantation / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:We aim to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) after renal transplantation.Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and follow-up information of 13 kidney recipients with NMIBC admitted to our hospital from January 2014 to June 2022 who subsequently underwent complete transperitoneal laparoscopic nephroureterectomy. There were 8 males and 5 females, aged (56.1±11.5), 3 cases with history of smoking and 10 cases without history of smoking, 4 cases with history of Aristolochic acids and 9 cases with no history of Aristolochic acids. Six and seven cases were treated with transurethral resection of bladder tumor for hematuria and bladder tumors detected by ultrasound or imaging respectively. Single and multiple bladder tumors were 9 and 4 cases; bladder tumor size ≤ 3 cm, >3 cm were 9 and 4 cases respectively; low-and high-grade bladder tumors were 3 and 10 cases separately, with; T a and T 1 of 3 and 10 cases respectively; recurrent bladder cancer and non-recurrent bladder cancer were 5 and 8 cases respectively. Follow-up after transurethral resection of bladder tumor showed that 6 cases with imaging evidence of UTUC for 6-52 months after transurethral resection of bladder tumor were treated with ipsilateral laparoscopic nephroureterectomy, including 2 cases of hydronephrosis, 1 case of renal pelvis mass, and 3 cases of ureteral mass, and 7 cases without imaging evidence of UTUC were performed with bilaterally prophylactic laparoscopic nephroureterectomy. The Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank test were used for survival analysis to evaluate the prognostic effect of UTUC in kidney recipients with NMIBC. Results:Six of 13 patients named UTUC group were diagnosed with UTUC and 7 of 13 patients named no-UTUC group were not detected with UTUC. There was no statistical difference between these two groups in terms of clinical characteristics, including age( P=0.10), sex( P=0.10), smoking( P=0.19), history of Aristolochic acids( P=0.99), number( P=0.56), grade( P=0.19), stage ( P=0.19)and recurrence of bladder tumor number( P=0.10), and radiological findings of UTUC ( P=0.29). However, patients with larger-sized bladder tumors (larger than 3cm) had a higher rate of UTUC compared to patients with equal or smaller than 3 cm ( P=0.29). In addition, two patients with negative radiological findings developed UTUC following the detection of a large bladder tumor size (larger than 3 cm). The median survival of overall survival time and cancer specific survival time after laparoscopic nephroureterectomy were 42(17, 65) months. Two patients died from any cause during follow-up in patients with UTUC, whereas no significant difference between UTUC group and non-UTUC group in overall survival time and cancer specific survival time, as evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests. ( P=0.29). Conclusions:After kidney transplantation, the diameter of the bladder tumor in NMIBC patients with UTUC was significantly larger than that in patients without UTUC, and no significant difference was observed in the remaining clinical features. Considering the non-functioning kidney after kidney transplantation, prophylactic laparoscopic nephroureterectomy can be considered for NMIBC patients with bladder tumor size >3 cm. Survival analysis showed no significant difference between UTUC group and non-UTUC group.