RÉSUMÉ
Purpose: Aggressive angiomyxoma (AAM) was identified as a distinct clinicopathological entity in 1983. Since then, a few cases of its occurrence in the scrotum have been reported. This case series was performed to increase clinicians' understanding of the clinical features and treatment of AAM in the scrotum. Methods: We evaluated the clinical presentations, treatments, and follow-up of two patients with AAM in the scrotum in our hospital and 34 cases reported in the literature. Results: Among the 36 patients, the average age was 48.3 ± 20.6 years old (range from 1 to 81); the average maximum diameter of the tumor was 8.36 cm (1.6-25 cm); the site of one (2.78%) patient was located in the epididymis, two (5.56%) in the testes, five (13.89%) in the spermatic cord, and 28 (77.77%) in the scrotum. The clinical symptoms were generally non-specific and 20 patients inadvertently discovered their slow-growing painless masses. The treatments for all these patients were surgical excision once the tumor had been found and one case underwent excision followed by radiotherapy. The median follow-up time for the remaining 32 cases was 24.5 months (1 to 84 months). Recurrence occurred in three cases (9.09%) at the primary sites and no cases of distant metastasis. Conclusion: AAM of the scrotum can occur in middle-aged and elderly men. The clinical manifestation generally involves a long history of asymptomatic masses or swelling in the scrotum. Ultrasound is the most commonly used diagnostic technique but magnetic resonance imaging may be more effective. The mainly treatment is surgical excision and postoperative histopathological examination is still the gold standard for its diagnosis. Although it is locally aggressive, metastasis is extremely rare in males.
RÉSUMÉ
BACKGROUND: Treatment with the combination of ureteroscopy and thulium laser ablation may provide an alternative to radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) for patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of this technique. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of the data for patients who were treated surgically for upper tract urothelial carcinoma in a single center. It included 32 patients treated by endoscopic thulium laser resection and 107 patients treated by radical nephroureterectomy (RNU). We compared the data of patient sex, age at diagnosis, location of carcinoma, length of hospitalization, tumor site, size, grade, recurrence, preoperative creatinine and postoperative creatinine in two groups. Patients were examined by ureteroscopy every 3 months during the first year after surgery, then every 6 months each year. RESULTS: All 32 patients were treated successfully, among which 6 were operated by a flexible ureteroscope. The average tumor size was 13 ± 7 mm in diameter. The tumor was rated as low grade in 27 patients and high grade in 5 patients. Ureteral stricture developed in 4 patients 3 months later after surgery, but the stricture was succesfully treated through endoscopic dilation. Seven patients had tumor recurrence, 3 of which underwent nephroureterectomy during the follow-up. Postoperative creatinine levels (umol/L) were respectively 89 ± 7.5 in laser group and 123 ± 15.4 in RNU group (p < 0.01). Length of hospitalization was respectively 3.6 ± 1.9 and 8.6 ± 2.4 days (p < 0.01). Local or bladder recurrence rate of thulium laser group and RNU group was respectively 21.9 and 13.1% (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Thulium laser group is associated with a less loss of renal function, a shorter length of hospitalization, but a higher rate of tumor recurrence. Thulium laser therapy combined with ureteroscopic treatment can be considered as an acceptable treatment for selected cases of UTUC. Lifetime intensive surveillance is necessary.