Predictive Role of the Systemic Immune Inflammation Index for Intravesical BCG Response in Intermediate- and High-Risk Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: In this study, we aimed to explore using the predictive role of systemic immune inflammation index (SII) for responses of intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy in patients with intermediate- and high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). METHODS: From 9 centers, we reviewed the data of patients treated for intermediate- and high-risk NMIBC between 2011 and 2021. All patients enrolled in the study presented with T1 and/or high-grade tumors on initial TURB had undergone re-TURB within 4-6 weeks after initial TURB and had received at least a 6-week course of intravesical BCG induction. SII was calculated with the formula SII = (P × N)/L, where P, N, and L refer to peripheral platelet, neutrophil, and lymphocyte counts, respectively. In patients with intermediate- and high-risk NMIBC, the clinicopathological features and follow-up data were evaluated to compare SII with other systemic inflammation-based prognostic indices. These included the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-neutrophil ratio (PNR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR). RESULTS: A total of 269 patients were enrolled in the study. Median follow-up time was 39 months. Disease recurrence and progression were observed in 71 (26.4%) and 19 (7.1%) patients, respectively. For groups with and without disease recurrence in terms of NLR, PLR, PNR, and SII calculated prior to intravesical BCG treatment, no statistically significant differences were observed (p = 0.470, p = 0.247, p = 0.495, and p = 0.243, respectively). Moreover, there were also no statistically significant differences between the groups with and without disease progression in terms of NLR, PLR, PNR, and SII (p = 0.504, p = 0.165, p = 0.410, and p = 0.242, respectively). SII did not show any statistically significant difference between early (<6 months) and late (≥6 months) recurrence (p = 0.492) and progression groups (p = 0.216). CONCLUSION: For patients with intermediate- and high-risk NMIBC, serum SII levels do not present as an appropriate biomarker for the prediction of disease recurrence and progression following intravesical BCG therapy. A possible explanation for the failure of SII to predict BCG response may be found in the impact of Turkey's nationwide tuberculosis vaccination program.

Effect of pelvic lymph node dissection and its extent on oncological outcomes in intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients: A multicenter study of the Turkish Uro-oncology Association.

BACKGROUND: Pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) is the gold standard method for lymph node staging in prostate cancer. We aimed to evaluate the effect of PLND combined with radical prostatectomy (RP) on oncological outcomes in D'Amico intermediate-risk prostate cancer (IRPC) patients. METHODS: Patients with D'Amico IRPC were included in the study. In the overall cohort and subgroups (biopsy International Society of Urological Pathology [ISUP] grade group 2 and 3), patients were divided into two groups as PLND and no-PLND. More extensive PLND, defined as a number of removed nodes (NRN) ≥ 75th percentile. RESULTS: After exclusion, a total of 631 patients were included: 351 (55.6%) had PLND and 280 (44.4%) had no-PLND. The mean age was 63.1 ± 3.60 years. The median NRN was 8.0 (1.0-40.0). The mean follow-up period was 47.7 ± 37.5 months. The lymph node involvement (LNI) rate was 5.7% in the overall cohort, 3.9% in ISUP grade 2, and 10.8% in ISUP grade 3. Patients with PLND were associated with more aggressive clinicopathologic characteristics but no significant difference in biochemical recurrence-free survival (BCRFS) was found between patients with PLND and no-PLND (p = 0.642). In the subgroup analysis for ISUP grades 2 and 3, no significant difference in BCRFS outcomes was found in patients with PLND and No-PLND (p = 0.680 and p = 0.922). Also, PLND extent had no effect on BCRFS (p = 0.569). The multivariable Cox regression model adjusted for preoperative tumor characteristics revealed that prostate specific antigen (PSA) (HR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.01-1.25; p = 0.048) was an independent predictor of biochemical recurrence (BCR). The optimum cut-off value for PSA, which can predict BCRFS, was assigned to be 7.81 ng/ml, with an AUC of 0.63 (95% CI: 0.571-0.688). The highest sensitivity and specificity were 0.667 and 0.549. CONCLUSION: Overall and cancer-specific survival analyzes were not evaluated because not enough events were observed. Neither PLND nor its extent improved BCRFS outcomes in IRPC. The LNI rate is low in patients with biopsy ISUP grade 2 and the BCR rate is low in those with PSA < 7.81 ng/dl so PLND can be omitted in these IRPC patients.

Sextant Biopsy-Based Criteria for Clinically Insignificant Prostate Cancer Are Also Valid for the 12-Core Prostate Biopsy Scheme: A Multicenter Study of Urooncology Association, Turkey.

BACKGROUND: Epstein criteria based on sextant biopsy are assumed to be valid for 12-core biopsies. However, very scarce information is present in the current literature to support this view. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the validity of Epstein criteria for clinically insignificant prostate cancer (PCa) in a cohort of the currently utilized 12-core prostate biopsy (TRUS-Bx) scheme in patients with low-risk and intermediate-risk PCa. METHOD: Pathological findings were separately evaluated in the areas matching the sextant biopsy (6-core paramedian) scheme and in all 12-core schemes. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the final pathology report of RP as true clinically significant PCa (sPCa) and insignificant PCa (insPCa) groups. Predictive factors (including Epstein criteria) and cutoff values for the presence of insPCa were separately evaluated for 6- and 12-core TRUS-Bx schemes. Then, different predictive models based on Epstein criteria with or without additional biopsy findings were created. RESULTS: A total of 442 patients were evaluated. PSA density, biopsy GS, percentage of tumor and number of positive cores, PNI, and HG-PIN were independent predictive factors for insPCa in both TRUS-Bx schemes. For the 12-core scheme, the best cutoff values of tumor percentage and number of positive cores were found to be ≤50% (OR: 3.662) and 1.5 cores (OR: 2.194), respectively. The best predictive model was found to be that which added 3 additional factors (PNI and HG-PIN absence and number of positive cores) to Epstein criteria (OR: 6.041). CONCLUSIONS: Using a cutoff value of "1" for the number of positive biopsy cores and absence of biopsy PNI and HG-PIN findings can be more useful for improving the prediction model of the Epstein criteria in the 12-core biopsy scheme.

Protective effect of dapagliflozin against cyclosporine A-induced nephrotoxicity.

This study aimed to reveal the possible protective effect of dapagliflozin (DAPA) against acute kidney damage due to cyclosporine A (CsA). Thirty-two mice with an eight-week-old Balb\c albino strain were divided into four groups: control group, CsA group, DAPA group, and CsA + DAPA group. On day 9 of treatment, the animals were decapitated, and bilateral nephrectomy was performed. Oxidative stress and apoptosis were evaluated with caspase-3 activity, total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS), malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), and Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) in the right kidney resection material. The left kidney resection material was evaluated histopathologically. CsA increased caspase-3 activity, Bax, TOS, MDA, TAS, and MPO levels, and the administration of DAPA with CsA significantly reduced this increase in levels (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, and p < 0.001, respectively). CsA decreased Bcl-2 levels, and administration of CsA + DAPA significantly increased Bcl-2 levels compared with only CsA administration (p < 0.001). Additionally, administration of DAPA significantly reduced the histopathological findings (parenchymal inflammation, hyaline cast formation, vacuolization, and lysis of renal tubular cells) caused by CsA. DAPA reduces oxidative stress, apoptosis, and histopathological damage caused by CsA in renal tissue.

Evaluation of pd-1, pd-l1, and cytotoxic T-lymphocyteassociated protein 4 expressions together with clinicopathological findings in clear cell, papillary, and chromophobe types of renal cell carcinoma.

Our study aimed to determine the expressions of programmed death protein 1 (PD-1), programmed death ligand protein 1 (PD-L1), and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte- associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) to investigate and compare the differences between early and advanced cases in the 3 most common types of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and reveal their correlations with prognosis and survival. A total of 166 RCC cases diagnosed between 2010 and 2019 in our hospital were included. PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4 markers were applied to the paraffin blocks of the cases using an immunohistochemical method, and their expression status was evaluated by distinguishing subtypes in advanced- and early-stage RCCs. It was observed that PD-L1 positivity in the tumour cells, in clear cell RCC, was statistically significantly more frequent in advanced-stage cases compared to early-stage cases. It was concluded that cases with PD-L1 positivity in tumour- infiltrating mononuclear cells (TIMC) in clear cell and chromophobe RCC had a shorter survival. The frequency of perinephritic fat invasion and necrosis was higher in cases with PD-L1 expression in TIMC. We think that PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4 must be considered together in advanced stage RCC for the treatment of both pathway inhibitors. Further large studies will shed light on the immunotherapy options at the advanced stage of all RCC types even in the absence of metastasis.

Use of the prostate health index in the detection of prostate cancer at all PSA levels (use of prostate health index in prostate cancer).

OBJECTIVES: To determine the efficiency of prostate health index (PHI) calculated simultaneously during an ultrasound-guided fine-needle prostate biopsy in prostate cancer diagnosis. METHODS: The present study included 258 subsequent patients who underwent a TRUS-guided biopsy in our clinic between August 2015 and March 2016 due to elevated blood levels of PSA and suspicion of prostate cancer. The total PSA, free PSA and pro-PSA were analysed in all patients before the procedure. RESULTS: The average age of 258 patients was 63.5 (36-91) years, and the mean PSA level and mean PHI values were 40.1 (0.12-2170) and 118 (0.41-1308), respectively. According to the PSA data, the patients were divided into two groups: the low PSA (<4 ng/mL) group containing ten patients with adenocancer (31.2%) and 22 patients with BPH (68.8%) and the high PSA (>4 ng/mL) group consisting of 86 patients with adenocancer (42.2%) and 118 (57.8%) with BPH. The sensitivity and specificity of PSA in detecting prostate adenocancer were calculated as 89.6% and 15.7%, respectively. Similarly, when a PHI level below 55 was accepted as low, and a PHI level at or above 55 was accepted as high, PHI's sensitivity and specificity were determined as 71.9% and 67.9%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The overall findings indicate that the specificity of PHI is higher than PSA in terms of prostate cancer detection.

Demonstration of advanced glycation end product (AGE) expression in bladder cancer tissue in type-2 diabetic and non-diabetic patients and the relationship between AGE accumulation and endoplasmic reticulum stress with bladder cancer.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between advanced glycation end product (AGE) expression and accumulation in transurethral resection (TUR-B) material taken from type-2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and non-DM bladder cancer patients and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) with bladder cancer. METHOD: The patients who had TUR-B between May 2016 and September 2018 were included in the study. After the tissue samples had been taken and frozen at -80°C, they were homogenised to be used in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) experiments. The patients were grouped as DM and non-DM. In both groups, mean AGE, IRE1, PERK and ATF6 expression amounts were evaluated through ELISA method in the pathological material. RESULTS: The expression amounts in tissue samples were AGE 0.59 ± 0.03 µg/mL, ATF6 1.08 ± 0.11 µg/mL, IRE1 30.71 ± 1.68 ng/mL, PERK 0.28 ± 0.02 ng. It was /mL. While there was no significant difference amongst AGE µg/mL (P = .146), ATF6 µg/mL (P = .175), IRE1 ng/mL (P = NA) and PERK ng/mL (P = .125) (P > .05) in the presence of DM, a positive correlation was observed between AGE values and PERK ng/mL values (r = .629; P < .05). CONCLUSION: Bladder cancer may develop as a result of accumulation of AGEs and ERS. Demonstration of the expression of proteins resulting from AGEs and ERS may be useful biomarkers for the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention and development of treatment alternatives for bladder cancer.

Risk factors associated with nocturia in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

AIM: To evaluate the risk factors associated with nocturia in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients aged over 18 years who had been diagnosed with OSAS using polysomnography (PSG) from January to December 2019 were evaluated. The number of nocturia episodes had been assessed in a 3-day bladder diary. We analysed the age, sex, body mass index (BMI) score, apnea-hypopn ea index (AHI) score and severity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking and heart diseases in all patients. RESULTS: A total of 124 patients with a mean age of 49.9 ± 11.6 years (range: 25-81 years) were included in the study. Ninety-two (75.8%) patients had nocturia. The mean number of nocturia episodes of patients with nocturia was 2.4 ± 1.3. To determine factors affecting the risk of nocturia, the logistic regression analysis was performed. Patient age and BMI scores were found as the most effective risk factors determining nocturia (P < .05). The odds of patient age were 1.06 (odds ratio: 1.12; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.11; P = .010) times higher for patients with nocturia. Every 1-unit increase in the BMI score increased the risk of nocturia 1.12 times. In the study period, 48 patients with nocturia had undergone the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy or surgical treatment. The mean number of nocturia episodes of these patients was 2.3 ± 1.4 before treatment and 1.7 ± 2.2 after treatment, showing a significant decrease (P = .032). Although the total daily urine volume increased significantly with the treatment, the total night-time urine volume decreased significantly at night (P = .016 and P = .024, respectively). CONCLUSION: The age and BMI score were the risk factors associated with nocturia in patients with OSAS.

Possible role of the receptor of advanced glycation end products (RAGE) in the clinical course of prostate neoplasia in patients with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus.

AIM: The expression of the cognate receptor of advanced glycation end products (RAGE) in malignant tissues of patients with type 2 diabetes has been suggested as a co-factor determining the clinical course and prognosis. We aimed to investigate the relationship between RAGE expression and clinicopathological features of prostate neoplasia. METHODS: Tissue samples of 197 patients, 64 (24 patients with type 2 diabetes and 40 controls) with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and 133 (71 patients with type 2 diabetes and 62 controls) with localised or metastatic prostate cancer (LPCa/MetPCa) were included in the study. The expression of RAGE in prostate specimens was studied immunohistochemically. RAGE scores were determined according to the extent of immunoreactivity and staining intensity. RESULTS: RAGE expression in BPH group (patients with type 2 diabetes and controls) was negative. Patients with both LPCa and MetPCa had significantly higher scores than those with BPH (P < .001). The mean RAGE scores of patients with type 2 diabetes LPCa and MetPCa were 4.71 ± 3.14 and 4.97 ± 3.69. The mean scores of control LPCa and MetPCa were 1.52 ± 1.87 and 1.69 ± 1.58, respectively. The scores of patients with type 2 diabetes LPCa and MetPCa were significantly higher than those of control LPCa and MetPCa (P = .01 and P < .001, respectively). CONCLUSION: We found higher RAGE expression levels in malignant prostate neoplasia than in BPH. As expected, patients with diabetes had higher scores than control patients. Disease progression and survival parameters were worse in patients with high RAGE levels. RAGE expression may be a useful biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer.

Predicting factors of acute kidney injury after partial nephrectomy and its impact on long-term renal function: A multicentre study of the Turkish Urooncology Association.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the predictors of acute kidney injury (AKI) after partial nephrectomy and the impact of AKI stage on long-term kidney function. METHODS: Data of 1055 patients who underwent partial nephrectomy between January 2008 and January 2018 at seven separate tertiary centres were analysed. AKI was defined according to AKI Network criteria. The association between pre-operative and perioperative factors and AKI was evaluated using logistic regression analysis. Recovery of at least 90% of baseline glomerular filtration rate 1 year after partial nephrectomy, change of 1 year glomerular filtration rate compared with baseline glomerular filtration rate and stage ≥3 chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression were assessed according to the stage of AKI. RESULTS: AKI was recorded in 281 (26.7%) of 1055 patients after partial nephrectomy, and of these patients, 197 (70.1%) had stage 1, 77 (27.4%) had stage 2 and 7 (2.5%) had stage 3. Higher tumour complexity and baseline glomerular filtration rate were independent predictors for AKI. The proportion of recovering 90% of baseline glomerular filtration rate at 1 year for any patient who had stage ≤1 vs stage 2-3 of AKI was 78.2% (95% CI: 73.2%-83.7%) and 23.8% (95% CI: 14.7%-38.7%), respectively (P < .001). The risk of stage ≥3 CKD progression for any patient who had stage ≤1 vs stage 2-3 of AKI was 6.2% (95% CI: 4.1%-9.2%) and 63.1% (95% CI: 52.5%-75.6%), respectively (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: AKI adversely affects renal function in the long-term after partial nephrectomy and stage 2-3 significantly increases the risk of CKD in the long term.

The effect of risk factors on surgical and oncological results in high-risk prostate cancer: A multicentre study of the urooncology society, Turkey.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of risk factors and selected surgical methods on operative and oncological results of patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) with high-risk prostate cancer (HRPC). METHODS: Retrospective analysis of patients who underwent RP for HRPC from 13 urology centres between 1990 and 2019 was performed. Groups were created according to the risk factors of D'Amico classification. Patients with one risk factor were included in group 1 where group 2 consisted of patients with two or three risk factors. RESULTS: A total of 1519 patients were included in this study and 1073 (70.6%) patients were assigned to group 1 and 446 (29.4%) patients to group 2. Overall (biochemical and/or clinical and/or radiological) progression rate was 12.4% in group 1 and 26.5% in group 2 (P = .001). Surgical procedure was open RP in 844 (55.6%) patients and minimally invasive RP in 675 (44.4%) patients (laparoscopic and robot-assisted RP in 230 (15.1%) and 445 (29.3%) patients, respectively). Progression rates were similar in different types of operations (P = .22). Progression rate was not significantly different in patients who either underwent pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) or not in each respective group. CONCLUSION: RP alone is an effective treatment in the majority of patients with HRPC and PLND did not affect the progression rates after RP. According to the number of pre-operative high-risk features, as the number of risk factors increases, there is a need for additional treatment.

The effect of body mass index on oncological and surgical outcomes in patients undergoing radical cystectomy for bladder cancer: A multicentre study of the association of urooncology, Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on oncological and surgical outcomes in patients who underwent radical cystectomy (RC) for bladder cancer (BC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively assessed data from patients who underwent RC with pelvic lymphadenectomy and urinary diversion for BC recorded in the bladder cancer database of the Urooncology Association, Turkey, between 2007 and 2019. Patients were stratified into three groups according to the BMI cut-off values recommended by the WHO; Group 1 (normal weight, <25 kg/m2 ), Group 2 (overweight, 25.0-29.9 kg/m2 ) and Group 3 (obese, ≥30 kg/m2 ). RESULTS: In all, 494 patients were included, of them 429 (86.8%) were men and 65 (13.2%) were women. The median follow-up was 24 months (12-132 months). At the time of surgery, the number of patients in groups 1, 2 and 3 were 202 (40.9%), 215 (43.5%) and 77 (15.6%), respectively. The mean operation time and time to postoperative oral feeding were longer and major complications were statistically higher in Group 3 compared to Groups 1 and 2 (P = .019, P < .001 and P = .025, respectively). Although the mean overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and metastasis-free survival (MFS) was shorter in cases with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 compared with other BMI groups, differences were not statistically significant (P = .532, P = .309, P = .751 and P = .213, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that although major complications are more common in obese patients, the increase in BMI does not reveal a significant negative effect on OS, CSS, RFS and MFS.

Comparison of TRUS and combined MRI-targeted plus systematic prostate biopsy for the concordance between biopsy and radical prostatectomy pathology.

AIM: To evaluate the accuracy in histologic grading of MRI/US image fusion biopsy by comparing conventional 12-core TRUS-Bx at radical prostatectomy specimens (RP). METHODS: Consecutive patients diagnosed prostate cancer (127 with combination of both targeted biopsy (TBx) plus systematic biopsies (SBx) and separate patient cohort of 330 conventional TRUS-Bx without mpMRI) with a PSA level of <20 ng/mL prior to RP were included. The primary end point was the grade group concordance between biopsy and RP pathology according to biopsy technique. RESULTS: Clinically significant prostate cancer detection was 51.2% for TRUS-Bx, 49.5% for SBx, 67% for TBx and 75.7% for TBx + SBx. Upgrading and downgrading of at least one Gleason Grade Group (GGG) was recorded in 43.3%/ 6.7% patients of the TRUS-Bx and in 20.5%/ 22% of the TBX + SBx group, respectively (all P < .001). Concordance level was detected to be significantly higher for ISUP 1 in combined TBx + SBx method compared to conventional TRUS-Bx (61.3% vs 37.9%, P = .014). In ISUP 1 exclusively, significant upgrading was seen in TRUS-Bx (62.1%) when compared to TBx (41.4%) and TBx + SBx (38.7%). CONCLUSIONS: MRI-targeted biopsies detected more significant PCa than TRUS-Bx but, superiority in significant cancer detection appears as a result of inadvertant selective sampling of small higher grade areas. Within an otherwise low grade cancer and does not reflect accurate GGG final surgical pathology. TBx + SBx has the greatest concordance in ISUP Grade 1 with less upgrading which is utmost important for active surveillance.

Factors affecting long-term renal functions after partial vs radical nephrectomy for clinical T1 renal masses: A Multicentre Study of the Urooncology Association, Turkey.

PURPOSE: To compare the functional outcomes of patients who underwent partial (PN) or radical nephrectomy (RN) for clinical T1 (cT1) renal tumours using the Kidney Cancer Database of the Urooncology Association, Turkey. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 1004 patients who underwent PN and RN for cT1 renal tumours at multiple academic tertiary centres between 2000 and 2018. Patients with preoperative end-stage chronic kidney disease and/or metastatic disease were excluded. RESULTS: There were 452 patients in the PN group and 552 patients in the RN group. The median follow-ups were 74.9 and 83.7 months in RN and PN cohort. The eGFR was significantly reduced in both groups on postoperative day 1 (PN = 13.7 vs RN = 19.1 mL/min/1.73 m2 : P < .001). In the PN group, eGFR showed a tendency to recover according to a quadratic pattern and reached preoperative levels in the first and third years (95.6 ± 28.8 mL/min/1.73 m2 and 96.9 ± 28.9 mL/min/1.73 m2 , respectively), with no significant difference between the eGFRs in the 1st and 3rd years (P = .710). To define groups at risk, different cut-off values for the GFR were considered. Among patients with a baseline GFR < 90, the RN cohort had significantly lower eGFRs in the first and third years than the PN cohort (P = .02). Logistic regression showed that comorbidities, coronary artery disease, diabetes and hypertension had no adverse impacts on the changes in the eGFR (P = .60, P = .13, and P = .13, respectively). CONCLUSION: For the treatment of stage T1 kidney tumours, open or laparoscopic partial nephrectomy has the benefit to preserve renal function.

Ta grade 3/high grade non-invasive bladder cancer: Should we perform a second TUR?

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of second transurethral resection (TUR) on oncological outcomes, according to the presence or absence of detrusor muscle in the initial TUR of patients with pTa Grade 3/high grade (G3/HG) tumours, who received at least 1 year of maintenance Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, we evaluated the effect of second TUR on oncological outcomes of 93 patients with pTa G3/HG tumours, according to the presence or absence of muscle in the initial TUR. All patients received maintenance BCG therapy according to the SWOG protocol. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 36 months. If muscle is present in the initial TUR, a second TUR significantly increased median time to first recurrence, compared to those without a second TUR (77.6 vs 36.9 mos, P = .0086). If muscle is missing in the initial TUR, a second TUR significantly decreased recurrence rate (20% vs 66.7%, P = .002), increased median time to first recurrence (78.9 vs 42.7 mos, P = .0001) and median time to progression (22 vs 7 mos, P = .05), compared to those without a second TUR. CONCLUSION: In patients with pTa G3/HG tumours, if the muscle is missing in the initial TUR, a second TUR should be performed in order to attain lower recurrence rates and longer median time to recurrence and progression. If the muscle is present in the initial TUR, a second TUR will only increase median time to first recurrence.

How accurate is radiological imaging for perirenal fat and renal vein invasion in renal cell carcinoma?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy of radiological staging, especially renal venous and perirenal fat invasion, in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data of 4823 renal tumour patients from Renal Tumor Database of Association of Uro-oncology in Turkey were evaluated. Of 4823 patients, 3309 RCC patients had complete radiological, and histopathological data were included to this study. The Pearson chi-squared test (χ2 ) was used to compare radiological and histopathological stages. RESULTS: The mean (SD) age of 3309 patients was 58 (12.3). Preoperative radiological imaging was performed using computed tomography (CT) (n = 2510, 75.8%) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (n = 799, 24.2%). There was a substantial concordance between radiological and pathological staging (к = 0.52, P < .001). Sensitivities of radiological staging in stages I, II, III and IV were 90.7%, 67.3%, 27.7% and 64.2%, respectively. The sensitivity in stage III was lower than the other stages. Subanalysis of stage IIIa cases revealed that, for perirenal fat invasion and renal vein invasion, sensitivity values were 15.4% and 11.3%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There was a substantial concordance between radiological (CT and/or MRI) and pathological T staging in RCC. However, this is not true for T3 cases. Sensitivity of preoperative radiological imaging in patients with pT3a tumours is insufficient and lower than the other stages. Consequently, preoperative imaging in patients with T3 RCC has to be improved, in order to better inform the patients regarding prognosis of their disease.

Easily accessible, up-to-date and standardised training model in Urology: E-Learning Residency training programme (ERTP).

OBJECTIVES: There is no standardised and up-to-date education model for urology residents in our country. We aimed to describe our National E-learning education model for urology residents. METHODOLOGY: The ERTP working group; consisting of urologists was established by the Society of Urological Surgery to create E-learning model and curriculum in April 2018. Learning objectives were set up in order to determine and standardise the contents of the presentations. In accordance with the Bloom Taxonomy, 834 learning objectives were created for a total of 90 lectures (18 lectures for each PGY year). Totally 90 videos were shot by specialised instructors and webcasts were prepared. Webcasts were posted at uropedia.com.tr, which is the web library of the Society of Urological Surgery. The satisfaction of residents and instructors was evaluated with feedbacks. An assessment of knowledge was measured with the multiple-choice exam. RESULTS: A total of 43 centres and 250 urology residents were included in ERTP during the academic year 2018/2019. There were 93/55/43/34/25 urology residents at 1st/2nd/3rd/4th and 5th year of residency, respectively. Majority of the residents (99.1%) completed the ERTP. The overall satisfaction rate of residents and instructors were 4.29 and 4.67 (min: 1 so bad, max: 5 so good). An assessment exam was performed to urology residents at the end of the ERTP and the mean score was calculated as 57.99 points (min: 20, max: 82). CONCLUSION: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the educational programmes had to move online platforms. We used this reliable and easily accessible e-learning platform for the standardisation of training in urology on national basis. We aim to share this model with international residency training programmes.

Clinical practice in vesicoureteral reflux with respect to EAU guidelines: A multicenter study.

PURPOSE: We designed a multicenter, retrospective study to investigate the current trends in initial management of reflux with respect to European Association of Urology (EAU) Guidelines in Urology clinics of our country. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study group consisted of 1988 renal units (RU) of 1345 patients treated surgically due to vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) (between years 2003 and 2017) in nine different institutions. Patients were divided into two groups according to time of initial treatment and also grouped according to risk factors by "EAU guidelines on VUR." RESULTS: In this series, 1426 RUs were treated initially conservatively and 562 RUs were initially treated with surgery. In initially surgically treated group, success rates of surgery decreased significantly in low and moderate risk groups after 2013 (P = .046, P = .0001, respectively), while success rates were not significantly different in high risk group (P = .46). While 26.6% of patients in low risk group were initially surgically treated before 2013, this rate has increased to 34.6% after 2013, but the difference was not statistically significant (P = .096). However, performing surgery as the initial treatment approach increased significantly in both moderate and high risk groups (P = .000 and P = .0001, respectively) after 2013. Overall success rates of endoscopic treatments and ureteroneocystostomy (UNC) operations were 65% and 92.9% before 2013 and 60% and 78.5% after 2013, respectively. Thus, the overall success rate for surgery was 72.6%. There was significant difference between success rates of UNC operations before and after 2013 (P = .000), while the difference was not significant in the injection group (P = .076). CONCLUSION: Current trends in management of reflux in our country do not yet follow the EAU guidelines on VUR in low and moderate risk groups despite these reliable and accepted guidelines were expected to influence our daily approach.

Nation-wide analysis of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on daily urology practice in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: To present a nation-wide analysis of the workload of urology departments in Turkey week-by-week during Covid-19 pandemic. METHODOLOGY: The centres participating in the study were divided into three groups as tertiary referral centres, state hospitals and private practice hospitals. The number of outpatients, inpatients, daily interventions and urological surgeries were recorded prospectively between 9-March-2020 and 31-May-2020. All these variables were recorded for the same time interval of 2019 as well. The weekly change of the workload of urology during pandemic period was evaluated, also the workload of urology and the distributions of certain urological surgeries were compared between the pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019. RESULTS: A total of 51 centres participated in the study. The number of outpatients, inpatients, urological surgeries and daily interventions were found to be dramatically decreased by the 3rd week of pandemics in state hospitals and tertiary referral centres; however, the daily urological practice were similar in private practice hospitals throughout the pandemic period. When the workload of urology in pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019 were compared, a huge decrease was observed in all variables during pandemic period. However, temporary measures like ureteral stenting, nephrostomy placement and percutaneous cystostomy have been found to increase during Covid-19 pandemic compared with normal life. CONCLUSIONS: Covid-19 pandemic significantly affected the routine daily urological practice likewise other subspecialties and priority was given to emergent and non-deferrable surgeries by urologists in concordance with published clinical guidelines.

The Effect of Diagnostic Ureterorenoscopy on Intravesical Recurrence in Patients Undergoing Nephroureterectomy for Primary Upper Tract Urinary Carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of diagnostic ureterorenoscopy (URS) prior to radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) on intravesical recurrence (IVR), in patients with primary upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 354 patients, who underwent RNU for UTUC from 10 urology centers between 2005 and 2019, was performed. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of IVR after RNU. Patients were divided into URS prior to RNU (Group 1) and no URS prior to RNU (Group 2). Rates of IVR after RNU were compared, and a Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate potential predictors of IVR. RESULTS: After exclusion, a total of 194 patients were analyzed: Group 1 n = 95 (49.0%) and Group 2 n = 99 (51.0%). In Group 1, a tumor biopsy and histopathological confirmation during URS were performed in 58 (61.1%). The mean follow-up was 39.17 ± 39.3 (range 12-250) months. In 54 (27.8%) patients, IVR was recorded after RNU, and the median recurrence time within the bladder was 10.0 (3-144) months. IVR rate was 38.9% in Group 1 versus 17.2% in Group 2 (p = 0.001). In Group 1, IVR rate was 43.1% in those undergoing intraoperative biopsy versus 32.4% of patients without biopsy during diagnostic URS (p =0.29). Intravesical recurrence-free survival (IRFS) was longer in Group 2 compared to Group 1 (median IRFS was 111 vs. 60 months in Groups 2 and 1, respectively (p< 0.001)). Univariate analysis revealed that IRFS was significantly associated with URS prior to RNU (HR: 2.9, 95% CI 1.65-5.41; p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, URS prior to RNU (HR: 3.5, 95% CI 1.74-7.16; p < 0.001) was found to be an independent prognostic factor for IRFS. CONCLUSION: Diagnostic URS was associated with the poor IRFS following RNU for primary UTUC. The decision for a diagnostic URS with or without tumor biopsy should be reserved for cases where this information might influence further treatment decisions.