Clinical performance of Xpert Bladder Cancer (BC) Monitor, a mRNA-based urine test, in active surveillance (AS) patients with recurrent non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC): results from the Bladder Cancer Italian Active Surveillance (BIAS) project.

PURPOSE: To investigate the clinical performance of a new mRNA-based urine test, aiming to avoid unnecessary follow-up cystoscopy in patients under active surveillance (AS) for recurrent NMIBC. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study enrolling patients with history of low-grade (LG) NMIBC, who developed a recurrence during the follow-up and underwent AS. Their urinary samples were analyzed by Xpert BC Monitor (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA). The primary endpoint was to investigate if Xpert BC Monitor could avoid unnecessary cystoscopy during the follow-up period. Its sensitivity, specificity, PPVs and NPVs were calculated. A cutoff of 0.4 "linear discriminant analysis" (LDA) was optimized for the AS setting. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 106 patients with a mean age of 72 ± 9.52 and a median follow-up from AS start of 8.8 (range 0-56.5) months. No statistically significant difference was found for the mean age, smoker status, lesion size, and number of lesions with a cutoff of 0.4. Of 106 patients, 22 (20.8%) were deemed to require treatment because of cystoscopic changes in size and/or number of lesions during the follow-up period. Using a cutoff value of < 0.4, 34 (33.7%) cystoscopies could be avoided due to low LDA value, missing 2/22 (9%) failures, none with high-grade (HG) NMIBC. Further research on larger population remains mandatory before its clinical use. CONCLUSION: Xpert BC Monitor seems to be a reliable assay, which might avoid unnecessary cystoscopies without missing HG NMIBC when its cutoff is optimized for the AS setting.

Neobladder "Function": Tips and Tricks for Surgery and Postoperative Management.

Orthotopic neobladder (ONB) reconstruction is a continent urinary diversion procedure increasingly used in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer following radical cystectomy (RC). It represents a valid alternative to the ileal duct in suitable patients who do not prefer a stoma and are motivated to undergo adequate training of the neobladder. Careful patient selection, taking into account the absolute and relative contraindications for ONB as well as an adequate recovery protocol after surgery are integral to the success of this procedure and the oncological and functional outcomes. The objective of this review is to summarize the current data on RC with ONB in terms of patient selection, preoperative preparation, surgical techniques and functional (continence and sexual activity) and oncological outcomes, with particular attention to the management of complications and the impact on quality of life (QoL).

Predictive factors for progression of patients with carcinoma in situ of the bladder at long-term follow-up: pure versus non-pure CIS.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to identify the predictive factors for progression defined as any event that shifted the management of the disease from a bladder sparing approach, by comparing patients with pure versus non-pure carcinoma in situ (CIS) of the bladder. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was carried out in consecutive patients affected by newly-diagnosed pure CIS and non-pure CIS (excluding cases with concomitant muscle invasive cancer). All patients were enrolled a in our institution from 1998 to 2010. Data was prospectively collected. Main end point was progression-free survival. RESULTS: Overall, 149 patients with CIS were identified for the analysis. A total of 98 patients had pure CIS (66%). Median follow-up was 103 months (range: 40-206 months). Progression occurred in 29 patients (19%). A total of 30 patients died during the follow-up (20%). In 13 cases (9%), the death was cancer specific. Progression-free survival estimate was 181 months (95% CI: 169-193 months) and 154 months (95% CI: 133-176 months) respectively for pure and non-pure CIS population (P=0.03). Among examined variables (age, gender, symptoms, smoking habit, ASA score, number of bacillus Calmette-Guérin [BCG] instillations), multivariate analysis disclosed that only CIS type was an independent predictor of progression (P=0.03) with a relative risk of 0.37 in favor of pure CIS. CONCLUSIONS: Pure and non-pure CIS are efficiently treated by BCG therapy combined with trans-urethral resection and/or radical cystectomy, with relatively low rate of progression. CIS type was the only significant predictor of progression.

p2PSA for predicting biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer earlier than total prostate-specific antigen after radical prostatectomy: an observational prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: There is an unmet clinical need for more biochemical specific tests that may detect clinically significant recurrent PCa at an early stage after radical prostatectomy (RP). Our purpose is to test the hypothesis that p2PSA (Index test) detects prostate cancer relapse (BCR) earlier than the current Reference Standard Test (total prostate-specific antigen [tPSA]) in patients who underwent RP for localized PCa. METHODS: This is an observational, prospective, cohort, follow-up study in patients subjected to RALP (robotic assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy) for clinically localized PCa from January 2013 to July 2013 at a high-volume Institution (450 average RP/year). A blood sample, for tPSA and p2PSA, was prospectively drawn after 3, 6, and 12 months and then every 6 months during the following two years. The primary outcome is to determine whether or not kinetics in rising of p2PSA significantly anticipates the tPSA kinetics. Exploratory data analysis was used to identify relationship between different variables. RESULTS: Over 134 patients 20 BCRs were detected according to tPSA cut-off. Five patients showed a contemporary increase of tPSA and p2PSA, 11 presented a p2PSA increase earlier than tPSA increase (13.9 months ±9.7). In four patients, the increase of PSA was not associated with a p2PSA>0.8 pg/mL. The correlation between tPSA and p2PSA according to Sperman's rho coefficient was statistically significant at 3, 6, 18 and 30 months: 0.416 (P<0.01), 0.255 (P<0.01), 0.359 (P<0.01) and 0.413 (P<0.01) respectively. When subjects were stratified according to stage/grade and margins (positive vs. negative), patients with higher stage and positive surgical margins could be considered the target categories. The low rate of observed BCR and high rate of p2PSA false positive are the main limitations. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings showed that p2PSA might be more sensitive than tPSA in detecting earlier BCR within 3-year follow-up. Further studies with a longer follow-up and larger population remain mandatory before considering p2PSA for clinical decision-making.