Long term cost comparisons of radical cystectomy versus trimodal therapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

BACKGROUND: Earlier studies on the cost of muscle-invasive bladder cancer treatments are limited to short-term costs of care. We determined the 2- and 5-year costs associated with trimodal therapy (TMT) vs. radical cystectomy (RC). METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database. Total Medicare costs at 2 and 5 years following RC vs. TMT were compared using inverse probability of treatment-weighted propensity score models. RESULTS: A total of 2,537 patients aged 66 to 85 years were diagnosed with clinical stage T2-4a muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Total median costs for patients that received no definitive treatment(s) were $73,780 and $88,275 at 2-and 5-years. Costs were significantly higher for TMT than RC at 2-years ($372,839 vs. $191,363, Median Difference $127,815, Hodges-Lehmann Estimate (H-L) 95% Confidence Interval (CI), $112,663-$142,966) and 5-years ($424,570 vs. $253,651, Median Difference $124,466, H-L 95% CI, $105,711-$143,221). TMT had higher outpatient costs than RC (2-years: $318,221 vs. $100,900; 5-years: $367,092 vs. $146,561) with significantly higher costs with radiology, medications, pathology/laboratory, and other professional services. RC had higher inpatient costs than TMT (2-years: $62,240 vs. $33,631, Median Difference $-29,174, H-L 95% CI, $-32,364-$-25,984; 5-years: $75,499 vs. $45,223, Median Difference $-29,843, H-L 95% CI, $-33,905-$-25,781). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The excess spending associated with trimodal therapy vs. radical cystectomy was largely driven by outpatient expenditures. The relatively high long-term trimodal therapy costs are prime targets for cost containment strategies to optimize future value-based care.

A Rare Case of Multifocal Prostatic Blue Nevus.

Prostatic blue nevus is a rare benign pathologic diagnosis most commonly diagnosed incidentally on many different types of prostate specimens. Blue nevus is the deposition of stromal melanin characterized by spindle cells within the fibromuscular stroma which stains positive for melanin-specific stains Fontana-Masson and S100 and stains negative for CD68, HMB45, and iron stains. We report the case of a multifocal and bilateral blue nevus in a 52-year-old Hispanic male who presented with an elevated prostate-specific antigen of 4.3 and mild obstructive lower urinary tract symptoms, found by transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate needle biopsy. The biopsy also revealed benign prostatic tissue with postatrophic hyperplasia and chronic inflammation. This is the 35th reported case of prostatic blue nevus and the third to show multifocal blue nevus.

Early Stone Manipulation in Urinary Tract Infection Associated with Obstructing Nephrolithiasis.

A urinary tract infection (UTI) and sepsis secondary to an obstructing stone are one of the few true urological emergencies. The accepted management of infected ureteral stones includes emergent decompression of the collecting system as well as antibiotic therapy. Despite this, no consensus guidelines clarify the optimal time to undergo definitive stone management following decompression. Historically, our institution has performed ureteroscopy with laser lithotripsy (URS-LL) treatment at least 1 to 2 weeks after decompression to allow for clinical improvement and completion of an antibiotic course. In this case series, we retrospectively review four cases in which patients had a documented UTI secondary to an obstructive ureteral stone. The patients underwent urgent decompression and, based on labs and clinical improvement, were subsequently treated with URS-LL. The presented patients received URS-LL within 5 days of decompression and antibiotics. The patients had no sepsis related postoperative complications from the accelerated course of treatment, resulting in discharge within 2 days following URS-LL. We provide a detailed examination of each patient presentation to describe our institution's experience with treating infected kidney stones within days of urgent decompression in order to question the previous standard of treating an infected kidney stone with a more delayed intervention.