Contemporary morbidity and mortality of open versus robotic cystectomy for bladder cancer: An analysis of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) procedure targeted cystectomy database.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between surgical modality (RARC vs. ORC) and the risk of 30-day complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We utilized the American College of Surgeons-National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) Cystectomy-Targeted database from 2019 to 2021. The primary outcome was a composite of major complications including 30-day mortality, reoperation, cardiac events, and stroke. Secondary outcomes included individual major and cystectomy-specific complications. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to minimize inherent differences within our cohort. We performed logistic regression to assess the association between outcomes of interest and operative modality. RESULTS: We found no difference between operative modality and the primary outcome, however, RARC was associated with a 70% lower risk of 30-day mortality (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.13-0.70) and had favorable outcomes with respect to respiratory, deep venous thrombosis, wound complications, and length of stay. Limitations are related to residual confounding given the observational methodology. CONCLUSIONS: RARC was associated with reduced risk of multiple 30-day complications, including mortality, as well as organ system and cystectomy-specific outcomes. These data support the clinical benefit of increased adoption of RARC.

Comparative real-world survival outcomes of muscle-invasive bladder cancer treated with bladder-only vs. whole-pelvis concurrent chemoradiation.

INTRODUCTION: Elective pelvic nodal irradiation for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) undergoing trimodal therapy (TMT ) is controversial. In patients with node-negative (N0) MIBC, the benefit of elective whole-pelvis concurrent chemoradiation (WP-CCR) compared to bladder-only (BO )-CCR has not been demonstrated. Using real-world data from the National Cancer Database (NCDB ), we sought to compare the overall survival (OS ) between BO-CCR and WP-CCR for MIBC. METHODS: Using the 2020 NCDB Participant User File, we identified cases of MIBC diagnosed between 2017 and 2019. We selected patients with clinical T2-T4aN0M0 disease receiving CCR as first-line treatment. CCR was defined as transurethral resection of bladder tumor followed by ≥40 Gy radiation to the bladder with concurrent single- or multiple-agent chemotherapy. Based on elective nodal irradiation status, patients were stratified as having received BO-CCR vs. WP-CCR. OS analysis was performed using summary three-month conditional landmark, inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW)-adjusted Kaplan-Meier estimates, and Cox regression. RESULTS: A total of 604 patients receiving CCR for MIBC were identified: 367 (60.8%) BO-CCR and 237 (39.2%) WP-CCR. Before IPTW, the groups were imbalanced in terms of baseline characteristics. The median followup of the weighted population was 42.3 months (interquartile range 18.1-49.1 months). In IPTW-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, WP-CCR was associated with a significant OS benefit compared to BO-CCR (adjusted hazard ratio 0.72, 95% confidence interval 0.54-0.96, p=0.026). CONCLUSIONS: In the setting of CCR for N0 MIBC, this retrospective NCDB analysis revealed that WP-CCR was associated with a benefit in OS compared to BO-CCR.

Postoperative Discharge Destination Impacts 30-Day Outcomes: A National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Multi-Specialty Surgical Cohort Analysis.

Surgical patients can be discharged to a variety of facilities which vary widely in intensity of care. Postoperative readmissions have been found to be more strongly associated with post-discharge events than pre-discharge complications, indicating the importance of discharge destination. We sought to evaluate the association between discharge destination and 30-day outcomes. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database. Patients were dichotomized based on discharge destination: home versus non-home. The main outcome of interest was 30-day unplanned readmission. The secondary outcomes included post-discharge pulmonary, infectious, thromboembolic, and bleeding complications, as well as death. In this cohort study of over 1.5 million patients undergoing common surgical procedures across eight surgical specialties, we found non-home discharge to be associated with adverse 30-day post-operative outcomes, namely, unplanned readmissions, post-discharge pulmonary, infectious, thromboembolic, and bleeding complications, as well as death. Non-home discharge is associated with worse 30-day outcomes among patients undergoing common surgical procedures. Patients and caregivers should be counseled regarding discharge destination, as non-home discharge is associated with adverse post-operative outcomes.

ProsTAV, a novel blood-based test for biopsy decision management in significant prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Current pathways in early diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa) can lead to unnecessary biopsy procedures. Here, we used telomere analysis to develop and evaluate ProsTAV®, a risk model for significant PCa (Gleason score >6), with the objective of improving the PCa diagnosis pathway. METHODS: This retrospective, multicentric study analyzed telomeres from patients with serum PSA 3-10 ng/mL. High-throughput quantitative fluorescence in-situ hybridization was used to evaluate telomere-associated variables (TAVs) in peripheral blood mononucleated cells. ProsTAV® was developed by multivariate logistics regression based on three clinical variables and six TAVs. The predictive capacity and accuracy of ProsTAV® were summarized by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and its clinical benefit with decision curves analysis. RESULTS: Telomeres from 1043 patients were analyzed. The median age of the patients was 63 years, with a median PSA of 5.2 ng/mL and a percentage of significant PCa of 23.9%. A total of 874 patients were selected for model training and 169 patients for model validation. The area under the ROC curve of ProsTAV® was 0.71 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.62-0.79), with a sensitivity of 0.90 (95% CI, 0.88-1.0) and specificity of 0.33 (95% CI, 0.24-0.40). The positive predictive value was 0.29 (95% CI, 0.21-0.37) and the negative predictive value was 0.91 (95% CI, 0.83-0.99). ProsTAV® would make it possible to avoid 33% of biopsies. CONCLUSIONS: ProsTAV®, a predictive model based on telomere analysis through TAV, could be used to increase the prediction capacity of significant PCa in patients with PSA between 3 and 10 ng/mL.

Glomerular hyperfiltration is an independent predictor of postoperative outcomes: A NSQIP multi-specialty surgical cohort analysis.

AIM: While high estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) has been associated with increased overall mortality, its effect on postoperative outcomes is relatively understudied. We sought to investigate the association between high eGFR and 30-day postoperative outcomes using a multi-specialty surgical cohort. METHODS: Using the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database, we selected adult for whom eGFR could be calculated using the 2021 Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation. Based on sex-specific distributions of eGFR stratified by age quintiles, we classified patients into low (<5th percentile), normal (5-95th percentile) and high eGFR (>95th percentile). The primary outcome was a composite of any 30-day major adverse outcomes, including: death, reoperation, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction and stroke. Secondary outcomes included 30-day infectious complications, venous thromboembolism (VTE), bleeding requiring transfusion, prolonged length of stay and unplanned readmission. After matching for demographic differences, comorbidity burden and operative characteristics, logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between extremes of eGFR and the outcomes of interest. RESULTS: Of 1 668 447 patients, 84 115 (5.07%) had a high eGFR. High eGFR was not associated with major adverse outcomes (odds ratio [OR] 1.00 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.97, 1.03]); however, it was associated with reoperation (OR 1.04 [95% CI: 1.00,1.08]), infectious complications (OR 1.14 [95% CI: 1.11, 1.16]), VTE (OR 1.15 [95% CI: 1.09, 1.22]) and prolonged length of stay (OR 1.19 [95% CI: 1.16, 1.21]). CONCLUSION: Our findings support an association between high eGFR and adverse 30-day postoperative outcomes.

A Multi-institution Study on the Association of Virtual Reality Skills with Continence Recovery after Robot-assisted Radical Prostatectomy.

BACKGROUND: Virtual reality (VR) simulators are increasingly being used for surgical skills training. It is unclear what skills are best improved via VR, translate to live surgical skills, and influence patient outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To assess surgeons in VR and live surgery using a suturing assessment tool and evaluate the association between technical skills and a clinical outcome. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This prospective five-center study enrolled participants who completed VR suturing exercises and provided live surgical video. Graders provided skill assessments using the validated End-To-End Assessment of Suturing Expertise (EASE) suturing evaluation tool. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: A hierarchical Poisson model was used to compare skill scores among cohorts and evaluate the association of scores with clinical outcomes. Spearman's method was used to assess correlation between VR and live skills. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: Ten novices, ten surgeons with intermediate expertise (median 64 cases, interquartile range [IQR] 6-80), and 26 expert surgeons (median 850 cases, IQR 375-3000) participated in this study. Intermediate and expert surgeons were significantly more likely to have ideal scores in comparison to novices for the subskills needle hold angle, wrist rotation, and wrist rotation needle withdrawal (p < 0.01). For both intermediate and expert surgeons, there was positive correlation between VR and live skills for needle hold angle (p < 0.05). For expert surgeons, there was a positive association between ideal scores for VR needle hold angle and driving smoothness subskills and 3-mo continence recovery (p < 0.05). Limitations include the size of the intermediate surgeon sample and clinical data limited to expert surgeons. CONCLUSIONS: EASE can be used in VR to identify skills to improve for trainee surgeons. Technical skills that influence postoperative outcomes may be assessable in VR. PATIENT SUMMARY: This study provides insights into surgical skills that translate from virtual simulation to live surgery and that have an impact on urinary continence after robot-assisted removal of the prostate. We also highlight the usefulness of virtual reality in surgical education.

A multi-institutional study using artificial intelligence to provide reliable and fair feedback to surgeons.

BACKGROUND: Surgeons who receive reliable feedback on their performance quickly master the skills necessary for surgery. Such performance-based feedback can be provided by a recently-developed artificial intelligence (AI) system that assesses a surgeon's skills based on a surgical video while simultaneously highlighting aspects of the video most pertinent to the assessment. However, it remains an open question whether these highlights, or explanations, are equally reliable for all surgeons. METHODS: Here, we systematically quantify the reliability of AI-based explanations on surgical videos from three hospitals across two continents by comparing them to explanations generated by humans experts. To improve the reliability of AI-based explanations, we propose the strategy of training with explanations -TWIX -which uses human explanations as supervision to explicitly teach an AI system to highlight important video frames. RESULTS: We show that while AI-based explanations often align with human explanations, they are not equally reliable for different sub-cohorts of surgeons (e.g., novices vs. experts), a phenomenon we refer to as an explanation bias. We also show that TWIX enhances the reliability of AI-based explanations, mitigates the explanation bias, and improves the performance of AI systems across hospitals. These findings extend to a training environment where medical students can be provided with feedback today. CONCLUSIONS: Our study informs the impending implementation of AI-augmented surgical training and surgeon credentialing programs, and contributes to the safe and fair democratization of surgery.

Surgeons aim to master skills necessary for surgery. One such skill is suturing which involves connecting objects together through a series of stitches. Mastering these surgical skills can be improved by providing surgeons with feedback on the quality of their performance. However, such feedback is often absent from surgical practice. Although performance-based feedback can be provided, in theory, by recently-developed artificial intelligence (AI) systems that use a computational model to assess a surgeon's skill, the reliability of this feedback remains unknown. Here, we compare AI-based feedback to that provided by human experts and demonstrate that they often overlap with one another. We also show that explicitly teaching an AI system to align with human feedback further improves the reliability of AI-based feedback on new videos of surgery. Our findings outline the potential of AI systems to support the training of surgeons by providing feedback that is reliable and focused on a particular skill, and guide programs that give surgeons qualifications by complementing skill assessments with explanations that increase the trustworthiness of such assessments.

Human visual explanations mitigate bias in AI-based assessment of surgeon skills.

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems can now reliably assess surgeon skills through videos of intraoperative surgical activity. With such systems informing future high-stakes decisions such as whether to credential surgeons and grant them the privilege to operate on patients, it is critical that they treat all surgeons fairly. However, it remains an open question whether surgical AI systems exhibit bias against surgeon sub-cohorts, and, if so, whether such bias can be mitigated. Here, we examine and mitigate the bias exhibited by a family of surgical AI systems-SAIS-deployed on videos of robotic surgeries from three geographically-diverse hospitals (USA and EU). We show that SAIS exhibits an underskilling bias, erroneously downgrading surgical performance, and an overskilling bias, erroneously upgrading surgical performance, at different rates across surgeon sub-cohorts. To mitigate such bias, we leverage a strategy -TWIX-which teaches an AI system to provide a visual explanation for its skill assessment that otherwise would have been provided by human experts. We show that whereas baseline strategies inconsistently mitigate algorithmic bias, TWIX can effectively mitigate the underskilling and overskilling bias while simultaneously improving the performance of these AI systems across hospitals. We discovered that these findings carry over to the training environment where we assess medical students' skills today. Our study is a critical prerequisite to the eventual implementation of AI-augmented global surgeon credentialing programs, ensuring that all surgeons are treated fairly.

A vision transformer for decoding surgeon activity from surgical videos.

The intraoperative activity of a surgeon has substantial impact on postoperative outcomes. However, for most surgical procedures, the details of intraoperative surgical actions, which can vary widely, are not well understood. Here we report a machine learning system leveraging a vision transformer and supervised contrastive learning for the decoding of elements of intraoperative surgical activity from videos commonly collected during robotic surgeries. The system accurately identified surgical steps, actions performed by the surgeon, the quality of these actions and the relative contribution of individual video frames to the decoding of the actions. Through extensive testing on data from three different hospitals located in two different continents, we show that the system generalizes across videos, surgeons, hospitals and surgical procedures, and that it can provide information on surgical gestures and skills from unannotated videos. Decoding intraoperative activity via accurate machine learning systems could be used to provide surgeons with feedback on their operating skills, and may allow for the identification of optimal surgical behaviour and for the study of relationships between intraoperative factors and postoperative outcomes.

Morbidity and mortality of multivisceral resection with radical nephrectomy for locally advanced renal cell carcinoma: An analysis of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database.

INTRODUCTION: Locally advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) can rarely invade into adjacent abdominal viscera without clinical evidence of distant metastases. The role of multivisceral resection (MVR) of involved adjacent organs at the time of radical nephrectomy (RN) remains poorly described and quantified. Using a national database, we aimed to evaluate the association between RN+MVR and 30-day postoperative complications. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult patients undergoing RN for RCC with and without MVR between 2005 and 2020 using the ACS-NSQIP database. The primary outcome was a composite of any of the following 30-day major postoperative complications: mortality, reoperation, cardiac event, and neurologic event. Secondary outcomes included individual components of the composite primary outcome, as well as infectious and venous thromboembolic complications, unplanned intubation and ventilation, transfusion, readmission, and prolonged length of stay (LOS). Groups were balanced using propensity score matching. Likelihood of complications was assessed by conditional logistic regression adjusted for unbalanced total operation time. Postoperative complications were compared by Fisher's exact test among subtypes of resection. RESULTS: A total of 12,417 patients were identified: 12,193 (98.2%) undergoing RN alone and 224 (1.8%) undergoing RN+MVR. Patients undergoing RN+MVR were more likely to experience major complications (odds ratio [OR] 2.46; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28-4.74). However, there was no significant association between RN+MVR and postoperative mortality (OR 2.49; 95% CI 0.89-7.01). RN+MVR was associated with higher rates of reoperation (OR 7.85; 95% CI 2.38-25.8), sepsis (OR 5.45; 95% CI 1.83-16.2), surgical site infection (OR 4.41; 95% CI 2.14-9.07), blood transfusion (OR 2.24; 95% CI 1.55-3.22), readmission (OR 1.78; 95% CI 1.11-2.84), infectious complications (OR 2.62; 95% CI 1.62-4.24), and longer hospital stay (5 days [IQR 3-8] vs. 4 days [IQR 3-7]; OR 2.31 [95% CI 2.13-3.03]).  There was no heterogeneity in the association between subtype of MVR and major complication rate. CONCLUSION: Undergoing RN+MVR is associated with an increased risk of 30-day postoperative morbidity, including infectious complications, reoperation, blood transfusion, prolonged LOS, and readmission.

Comparative real-world survival outcomes of metastatic papillary and clear cell renal cell carcinoma treated with immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and combination therapy.

INTRODUCTION: While there are a plethora of studies supporting novel treatment approaches in metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), much of the data used to inform care of patients with metastatic papillary RCC (pRCC) is extrapolated from ccRCC. Several recent phase III trials have supported the use of immunotherapy (IO) and targeted therapy (TT)+IO in ccRCC, without corresponding data for pRCC. Using ccRCC as a comparison group, we sought to describe real-world trends in the utilization of systemic therapy and its impact on overall survival (OS) among patients with metastatic pRCC. METHODS: Using the National Cancer Database (NCDB), we identified cases of metastatic pRCC and ccRCC between 2015 and 2018. Patients were stratified into groups based on histology and first-line treatments (TT, IO, TT + IO). Differences in baseline characteristics were assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous variables, and the Chi-square or Fisher's exact test for categorical variables. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier estimates and multivariable Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: A total of 6,920 patients with a diagnosis of metastatic RCC were identified: 594 (8.6%) with pRCC and 6,326 (91.4%) with ccRCC. Overall, 4,710 patients received TT (455 pRCC and 4,255 ccRCC), 1,585 received IO (77 pRCC and 1,508 ccRCC), and 625 received TT+IO (62 pRCC and 563 ccRCC). Temporal trend between 2015 and 2018 revealed an increased utilization of IO and TT + IO for pRCC and ccRCC. In patients with metastatic pRCC, neither IO (HR 1.03; 95% CI 0.75-1.42) nor TT+IO (HR 0.90, 95% CI 0.63-1.28) were associated with better OS compared to TT alone. In contrast, both IO and combination TT and IO were associated with significantly better OS than TT for patients with metastatic ccRCC (IO group: hazard ratio [HR] 0.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68-0.82; TT+IO group: HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.72-0.93). Cytoreductive nephrectomy was associated with better OS in both pRCC (HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.46-0.77) and ccRCC (HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.50-0.58). CONCLUSIONS: Although IO and TT + IO were associated with better OS among patients with metastatic ccRCC, this same effect was not observed among patients with pRCC.

Open vs. robot-assisted radical cystectomy with extracorporeal or intracorporeal urinary diversion for bladder cancer A pairwise meta-analysis of outcomes and a network meta-analysis of complications.

INTRODUCTION: There are no meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing open radical cystectomy (OR C) with robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC), inclusive of both intracorporeal (iRARC) and extracorporeal (hybrid RARC, hRARC) urinary reconstruction. METHODS: MEDL INE, Embase, Scopus, the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and ClinicalTrials.gov registries were searched in May 2022. Outcomes of interest included recurrence- or progression-free survival (RFS/PFS), margin status and lymph node yield, mean estimated blood loss (EBL) and operating room time (ORT ), hospital length of stay (LOS ), 90-day complications and readmissions, and quality of life (QoL). Pairwise meta-analyses and network meta-analyses were performed using random-effects models and Bayesian hierarchical random-effects models, respectively. RESULTS: We found no significant differences between RARC and OR C for oncological and most perioperative outcomes: RFS/PFS (hazard ratio [HR ] 0.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.67-1.23); positive surgical margins (odds ratio [OR ] 1.05, 95% CI 0.60-1.85); lymph node yield (mean difference [MD ] -0.63, 95% CI -2.63-1.37); LOS (MD -0.22, 95% CI -1.10-0.65); overall complications (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.61-1.07); major complications (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.69-1.30); readmissions (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.60-1.35); and QoL (standardized MD -0.02, 95% CI -0.17-0.14). We found significantly lower EBL for RARC compared to OR C (MD -312.61, 95% CI -447 to -178.22) at the expense of significantly prolonged ORT (MD 82.34 minutes, 95% CI 44.82-119.86). Network meta-analysis did not find significant differences in complications between hRARC and iRARC. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis confirms the equivalence of RARC and OR C with respect to oncological outcomes.

Enhanced Succinate Oxidation with Mitochondrial Complex II Reactive Oxygen Species Generation in Human Prostate Cancer.

The transformation of prostatic epithelial cells to prostate cancer (PCa) has been characterized as a transition from citrate secretion to citrate oxidation, from which one would anticipate enhanced mitochondrial complex I (CI) respiratory flux. Molecular mechanisms for this transformation are attributed to declining mitochondrial zinc concentrations. The unique metabolic properties of PCa cells have become a hot research area. Several publications have provided indirect evidence based on investigations using pre-clinical models, established cell lines, and fixed or frozen tissue bank samples. However, confirmatory respiratory analysis on fresh human tissue has been hampered by multiple difficulties. Thus, few mitochondrial respiratory assessments of freshly procured human PCa tissue have been published on this question. Our objective is to document relative mitochondrial CI and complex II (CII) convergent electron flow to the Q-junction and to identify electron transport system (ETS) alterations in fresh PCa tissue. The results document a CII succinate: quinone oxidoreductase (SQR) dominant succinate oxidative flux model in the fresh non-malignant prostate tissue, which is enhanced in malignant tissue. CI NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase activity is impaired rather than predominant in high-grade malignant fresh prostate tissue. Given these novel findings, succinate and CII are promising targets for treating and preventing PCa.

Localized prostate cancer: An analysis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Breast and Prostate Cancer Data Quality and Patterns of Care study (CDC PoC-BP).

INTRODUCTION: Limited evidence exists on the comparative effectiveness of local treatments for prostate cancer (PCa) due to the lack of generalizability. Using granular national data, we sought to examine the association between radical prostatectomy (RP) and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment and survival. METHODS: Records were abstracted for localized PCa cases diagnosed in 2004 across seven state registries to identify patients undergoing RP (n=3019) or IMRT (n=667). Comorbidity was assessed by the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 (ACE-27). Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance covariates between treatment groups. All-cause and PCa-specific mortality were primary endpoints. A subgroup analysis of patients with high-risk PCa (RP, n=89; IMRT, n=95) was conducted. RESULTS: Following PSM, matched patients (n=502 pairs) treated with either RP or IMRT were well-balanced with respect to covariates. With a median followup of 10.5 years (interquartile range [IQR] 9.9-11.0), the 11-year overall survival (OS) was 71.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 66.9-75.8) for RP and 62.3% (95% CI 57.4-67.6) for IMRT. IMRT was associated with a 41% increased risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 1.41, 95% CI 1.13-1.76) but not PCa-specific mortality (HR 1.75, 95% CI 0.84-3.64), as compared to RP. In patients with high-risk PCa, IMRT, as compared to RP, was not associated with a statistically significant difference in all-cause (HR 1.53, 95% CI 0.97-2.42) or PCa-specific mortality (HR 1.92, 95% CI 0.69-5.36). CONCLUSIONS: Despite a low mortality rate at 10 years and possible residual confounding, we found a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality but no PCa-specific mortality associated with IMRT as compared to RP in this population-based study.

Relation between surgeon age and postoperative outcomes: a population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Aging may detrimentally affect cognitive and motor function. However, age is also associated with experience, and how these factors interplay and affect outcomes following surgery is unclear. We sought to evaluate the effect of surgeon age on postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing common surgical procedures. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing 1 of 25 common surgical procedures in Ontario, Canada, from 2007 to 2015. We evaluated the association between surgeon age and a composite outcome of death, readmission and complications. We used generalized estimating equations for analysis, accounting for relevant patient-, procedure-, surgeon- and hospital-level factors. RESULTS: We found 1 159 676 eligible patients who were treated by 3314 surgeons and ranged in age from 27 to 81 years. Modelled as a continuous variable, a 10-year increase in surgeon age was associated with a 5% relative decreased odds of the composite outcome (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.92 to 0.98, p = 0.002). Considered dichotomously, patients receiving treatment from surgeons who were older than 65 years of age had a 7% lower odds of adverse outcomes (adjusted OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.88-0.97, p = 0.03; crude absolute difference = 3.1%). INTERPRETATION: We found that increasing surgeon age was associated with decreasing rates of postoperative death, readmission and complications in a nearly linear fashion after accounting for patient-, procedure-, surgeon- and hospital-level factors. Further evaluation of the mechanisms underlying these findings may help to improve patient safety and outcomes, and inform policy about maintenance of certification and retirement age for surgeons.

Robot-assisted Radical Cystectomy Versus Open Radical Cystectomy: A Meta-analysis of Oncologic, Perioperative, and Complication-related outcomes.

Robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) is increasingly being used to treat muscle-invasive bladder cancer in an attempt to improve functional outcomes and complication rates over open radical cystectomy (ORC). We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to compare patient outcomes between RARC and ORC. The primary outcome measure was a composite of recurrence-free survival (RFS) or progression-free survival (PFS). As a secondary measure, we examined other surrogate oncologic endpoints, perioperative outcomes, and complications. We found no difference between RARC and ORC with respect to RFS/PFS (hazard ratio 0.89, 95% confidence interval 0.64-1.24), surgical margin rates, or lymph node dissection yield. Analysis of patterns of recurrence for (pelvic) versus distant/abdominal sites indicated a significant difference between RARC and ORC (p=0.04). This analysis represents a combination of post hoc analyses using RCT data and inconsistent between-study definitions of recurrence sites, and must be interpreted with caution. Lastly, RARC was associated with an advantage in estimated blood loss, but a longer operative time, with no difference in hospital length of stay or complication rates. These data support the oncologic safety of RARC; however, further research is required to assess potential differences in recurrence patterns. PATIENT SUMMARY: We synthesized data from recent randomized controlled trials to examine differences in cancer control between minimally invasive, robot-assisted radical cystectomy and traditional, open radical cystectomy. Our study shows that cancer control outcomes are comparable between robotic and open techniques, supporting the safety of minimally invasive surgery. Blood loss was lower in robotic surgery, but the robotic procedure was longer and did not have lower complications rates after surgery.

Performance of robotic simulated skills tasks is positively associated with clinical robotic surgical performance.

OBJECTIVE: To compare user performance of four fundamental inanimate robotic skills tasks (FIRST) as well as eight da Vinci Skills Simulator (dVSS) virtual reality tasks with intra-operative performance (concurrent validity) during robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and to show that a positive correlation exists between simulation and intra-operative performance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 21 urological surgeons with varying robotic experience were enrolled. Demographics were captured using a standardized questionnaire. User performance was assessed concurrently in simulated (FIRST exercises and dVSS tasks) and clinical environments (endopelvic dissection during RARP). Intra-operative robotic clinical performance was scored using the previously validated six-metric Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills (GEARS) tool. The relationship between simulator and clinical performance was evaluated using Spearman's rank correlation. RESULTS: Performance was assessed in 17 trainees and four expert robotic surgeons with a median (range) number of previous robotic cases (as primary surgeon) of 0 (0-55) and 117 (58-600), respectively (P = 0.001). Collectively, the overall FIRST (ρ = 0.833, P < 0.001) and dVSS (ρ = 0.805, P < 0.001) simulation scores correlated highly with GEARS performance score. Each individual FIRST and dVSS task score also demonstrated a significant correlation with intra-operative performance, with the exception of Energy Switcher 1 exercise (P = 0.063). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to show a significant relationship between simulated robotic performance and robotic clinical performance. Findings support implementation of these robotic training tools in a standardized robotic training curriculum.

Collagenous micronodules in prostate cancer revisited: are they solely associated with Gleason pattern 3 adenocarcinomas?

Collagenous micronodules (CMs) are microscopic stromal nodular eosinophilic fibrillar collagen deposition of uncertain histogenesis seen in prostatic adenocarcinoma. Per the 2005 International Society of Urologic Pathology (ISUP) consensus conference, they are categorized as Gleason pattern 3. This study analyzes morphological and clinical features of CMs from a large series of radical prostatectomies. Hematoxylin and eosin stained slides for 129 radical prostatectomies for adenocarcinoma of prostate with CMs and for 93 prostatic adenocarcinoma cases without CMs as comparison were examined out of a total of 667 cases performed from January 2010 to December 2011 at Houston Methodist Hospital. CMs were identified in 19% of all radical prostatectomies (129/667 cases). Almost all tumors with CMs were located in the peripheral zone (98%) as single or multiple foci of prostatic cancer glands. The vast majority of cases (96%) were identified in association with mucinous secretion. A cribriform Gleason pattern 4 was associated in 86 cases (67%). The CMs were associated with glomerulation (42%) and amphophilic luminal secretion (59%). 88 cases (68%) showed tumor foci with Gleason pattern ≥ 4 in close association with CMs. Multivariate analysis revealed CMs of the prostatic adenocarcinoma are closely related to mucinous secretion, cribriform growth pattern, and Gleason pattern 4. This study suggests that CMs are more frequently associated with Gleason pattern 4 cancer warranting morphologic reappraisal of CMs, rather than the consensus assignment of Gleason pattern 3.