Eur Urol

Urinary and bowel symptoms in men with and without prostate cancer: results from an observational study in the Stockholm area.

Adolfsson J. Helgason AR. Dickman P. Steineck G.
Department of Urology, Huddinge University Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Sweden.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of urinary and bowel symptoms in population-based groups of men with and without prostate cancer. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire, assessing 5 urinary and 3 bowel symptoms, was sent to the 431 men diagnosed as having prostate cancer in the Stockholm area in 1992 who were still alive in October 1993 and to 435 randomly selected control subjects with an age distribution matching men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer in the same area. The results were evaluated as ratios of proportions. RESULTS: Among the prostate cancer patients, all urinary and bowel symptoms assessed were more common and the risk of having the various symptoms was 1.3-4.5 times that of the controls. The risks of having leakage of urine after radical prostatectomy and bowel urgency after external beam radiation therapy were fourfold when compared with the control group. We noted an increased risk ratio of proportions of leakage of faeces after radical prostatectomy and this risk was significantly increased when men with any of 11 specified diseases were excluded from the analysis to reduce confounding. CONCLUSIONS: Prostate cancer and its treatment affects urinary and bowel functions. The increased risk of having leakage of faeces after radical prostatectomy may be a chance phenomenon due to few patients subjected to surgery, but warrants further investigation.

Surgery for renal artery aneurysms: a combined series of two large centers.

Bastounis E. Pikoulis E. Georgopoulos S. Alexiou D. Leppaniemi A. Boulafendis D.
1st Department of Surgery, University of Athens, Greece.
OBJECTIVE: To review the clinical features and results of surgical treatment of renal artery aneurysms from two large centers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 21 hypertensive patients with renal artery aneurysms operated in two centers during a 24-year period was performed. RESULTS: The presenting symptom was subcostal or flank pain in 8 (38%) and hematuria in 5 (24%) cases. A ring-like calcification was seen on plain X-ray in 6 (29%) cases. All patients were evaluated with renal angiography showing a saccular aneurysm in 13 cases (62%), fusiform in 5 (24%) and dissecting in 3 (14%) cases. All saccular aneurysms were treated with resection followed by reconstruction with vein patch in 10 cases, and with and end-to-end anastomosis in 3 cases. All fusiform and dissecting aneurysms were managed with resection and reconstruction using aortorenal bypass. There was no hospital mortality or significant morbidity. During a follow-up ranging from 6 months to 23 years, there was definite cure of hypertension in 14 (67%) patients and improvement of blood pressure levels in 4 (19%) patients. Three patients continued to be hypertensive. CONCLUSION: Surgery for renal artery aneurysms can be accomplished with good results and should be considered for patients with aneurysms greater than 2 cm, for aneurysms causing renovascular hypertension, significant stenosis, flank pain, or hematuria, for dissecting, expanding and thrombotic aneurysms, and in women with a potential for pregnancy. However, all aneurysms cannot and should not be treated surgically.

The importance of prognostic factors in the interpretation of two EORTC metastatic prostate cancer trials. European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Genito-Urinary Tract Cancer Cooperative Group.

Year 1998
Sylvester RJ. Denis L. de Voogt H.
EORTC Data Center, Brussels.
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The EORTC conducted two randomized phase III trials of maximal androgen blockade (MAB) in 695 patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Trial 30,843 compared orchidectomy or buserelin to buserelin plus cyproterone acetate and showed no significant difference in survival while trial 30,853 showed that Zoladex plus flutamide had a significantly longer survival than orchidectomy. Reasons for this discrepancy were sought. METHODS: In order to determine whether differences in patient characteristics could explain these possibly contradictory results, a Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to identify prognostic factors for survival in each study. Patients were divided into risk groups (good or poor prognosis with 3.5 and 1.75 years' median survival, respectively) based on their alkaline phosphatase, hemoglobin, performance status, pain score, T category and G grade at entry on study. RESULTS: The survival advantage of MAB in 30,853 was limited to patients with a good prognosis (164/302 (54%) of the patients). In 30,843, only 93/337 patients (28%) had a good prognosis so there were insufficient data to draw separate conclusions in these patients. Despite the limitations of subgroup analyses, these results show that patients in 30,843 had on the average a worse prognosis than patients in 30,853. Hence there were fewer good prognosis patients who could potentially benefit from MAB, thus providing one possible explanation for the overall negative conclusion. CONCLUSIONS: These studies once again underline the importance of taking into account patient characteristics when designing and interpreting metastatic prostate cancer trials. They also provide criteria which may be used to define risk groups as part of a protocol's patient eligibility criteria. In the design of future trials assessing MAB, a sufficient number of good prognosis patients should be entered to reliably assess treatment efficacy in this subgroup.

High incidence of brain metastases in patients treated with an M-VAC regimen for advanced bladder cancer.

Year 1998
Dhote R. Beuzeboc P. Thiounn N. Flam T. Zerbib M. Christoforov B. Debre B.
Service of Internal Medicine, Hopital Cochin, Paris, France.
OBJECTIVE: We report on central nervous system metastases from urothelial bladder carcinoma in patients treated with M-VAC chemotherapy. METHODS: 50 patients with advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder were treated with the M-VAC regimen at the Hopital Cochin (Paris, France) between December 1989 and February 1995. Brain relapses were diagnosed by CT scanning. RESULTS: We observed a surprising increase in the number of central nervous system relapses (8/50) in patients treated consecutively at the same institution. The mean time to metastatic recurrence in the brain from the initiation of first chemotherapy was 21 months (range 7-38). Six patients had single and 2 patients had multiple central nervous system metastases. Treatment consisted of radiotherapy alone (n = 5) or both surgery and radiotherapy (n = 3). Median survival time from the appearance of cerebral metastases was 3 months (range 1-10). CONCLUSION: The prolonged duration of remissions which are achieved following M-VAC chemotherapy may explain the greater likelihood of the detection of cerebral involvement.