Trends in renal function after radical nephrectomy: a multicentre analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate serial changes in renal function by investigating various clinical factors after radical nephrectomy (RN). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study population consisted of 2068 consecutive patients who were treated at multiple institutions by RN for renal cortical tumour without metastasis between 1999 and 2011. We measured the serial change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and clinical factors during a 60-month follow-up period. The changes in eGFR over time were analysed according to baseline eGFR (eGFR ≥60 and 15-59 mL/min/1.73m(2) ) using a linear mixed model. The independent prognostic value of various clinical factors on the increase in eGFR was ascertained by multivariate mixed regression model. RESULTS: Overall, there was a subsequent restoration of renal function over the 60 months. The slope for the relationship between the eGFR and the time since RN was 0.082 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.039-0.104; P < 0.001) and 0.053 (95% CI 0.006-0.100; P = 0.038) in each baseline group, indicating that each month after RN was associated with an increase in eGFR of 0.082 and 0.053 mL/min/1.73m(2) , respectively. When we analysed renal function based on various factors, postoperative eGFR of patients with diabetes mellitus, old age (≥70 years) or a preoperative eGFR of <30 mL/min/1.73 m(2) , was decreased or maintained at a certain level without any improvement in renal function. Preoperative predictors of an increase in eGFR after RN were young age, no DM, no hypertension, a preoperative eGFR of ≥30 mL/min/1.73m(2) and time after surgery (≥36 months). CONCLUSIONS: Renal function recovered continuously during the 60-month follow-up period after RN. However, the trends in functional recovery change were different according to various clinical factors and such information should be discussed with patients when being counselled about their treatment for renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Does obesity affect the accuracy of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for predicting prostate cancer among men undergoing prostate biopsy.

UNLABELLED: What's known on the subject? and what does the study add?: As most urologist known, obesity significantly lowers serum PSA levels. So there is some concern about delayed diagnosis of prostate cancer in obese men. In the present study, we found that the accuracy level of PSA for detecting prostate cancer was not significantly different between different obesity levels. A well-designed study adjusting for several factors, e.g. diet, exercise, medication and comorbidity, which may possibly compensate for the associated effects on PSA levels, is needed for confirmation of the present findings. OBJECTIVE: To investigate prostate-specific antigen (PSA) accuracy in detecting prostate cancer according to body mass index (BMI) in Asian men with a PSA level of <30 ng/mL using contemporary multicore (≥ 12) prostate biopsy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed the records of 3471 patients, whose initial PSA levels were <30 ng/mL, who underwent multicore (≥ 12) transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy between January 2004 and May 2011. BMI was categorised as performed previously for the Asian population: <23, 23-24.9, 25-29.9, and ≥ 30 kg/m(2) . PSA accuracy for detecting prostate cancer in each BMI group was assessed based on the receiver operating characteristics-derived area under the curve. RESULTS: The mean age and median PSA level were inversely associated with BMI; the median PSA level in each BMI category was 7.84, 7.75, 7.33 and 5.79 ng/mL, respectively (P < 0.001). In all, prostate cancer was detected from biopsy in 1102 (31.7%) patients. The PSA accuracy for predicting prostate cancer in all patients was estimated to be 0.607, and PSA accuracies in each BMI category were 0.638, 0.572, 0.613 and 0.544, respectively; there was no significant difference among the groups in terms of PSA accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy of PSA in predicting prostate cancer did not change regardless of BMI category in Asian men. However, as patients with higher BMIs had lower PSA levels than those with lower BMIs, it can therefore be suggested that the PSA threshold should be lower in obese men to discriminate between prostate cancer and benign conditions in the real clinical situation.

Application of simplified Fuhrman grading system in clear-cell renal cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of simplified (two- or three-tiered) Fuhrman grading systems as prognostic indicators in clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: By reviewing records, various clinicopathological factors were assessed in 431 patients who received surgical management for clear-cell RCC. A conventional four-tiered Fuhrman grading system was compared with a modified two-tiered grading system (Fuhrman grades I and II were combined as one class, and grades III and IV as another) and also with a three-tiered grading system (only grades I and II were combined). Efficacies of grading systems were assessed via univariate analyses and multivariate models for prediction of cancer-specific survival. RESULTS: In univariate analysis, the four-tiered and three-tiered grading systems showed similar accuracies (76.5 vs 76.2%, P =0.614) for predicting cancer-specific survival, which were greater than that of the two-tiered system (72.5%; both P < 0.05). Of the three grading systems, only the three-tiered system was an independent predictor of cancer-specific survival in multivariate analysis (P = 0.046). When receiver operating characteristic-derived areas under the curve (AUCs) of multivariate models for predicting cancer-specific survivals were assessed, AUCs for models including the three-tiered Fuhrman grading system and the conventional four-tiered Fuhrman grading system were the same (95.3%), followed by that of a model incorporating the two-tiered grading system (95.1%). CONCLUSION: A modified, three-tiered Fuhrman grading system can be considered an appropriate option in the application of a nuclear grading system to the prognostication of clear-cell RCC in both univariate analysis and multivariate model setting.