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This initiative was undertaken in response to concerns regarding the variation in management and in outcomes of patients with bladder cancer throughout centres and geographical areas in Canada. Population-based data have also revealed that real-life survival is lower than expected based on data from clinical trials and/or academic centres. To address these perceived shortcomings and attempt to streamline and unify treatment approaches to bladder cancer in Canada, a multidisciplinary panel of expert clinicians was convened last fall for a two-day working group consensus meeting. The panelists included urologic oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, patient representatives, a genitourinary pathologist, and an enterostomal therapy nurse. The following recommendations and summaries of supporting evidence represent the results of the presentations, debates, and discussions. Methodology

Introduction: Radical nephroureterectomy for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) must include some form of distal ureter management to avoid high rates of tumour recurrence. It is uncertain which distal ureter management technique has the best oncologic outcomes. To determine which distal ureter management technique resulted in the lowest tumour recurrence rate, we analyzed a multiinstitutional Canadian radical nephroureterectomy database.Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients who underwent radical nephroureterectomy with distal ureter management for UTUC between January 1990 and June 2010 at 10 Canadian tertiary hospitals. Distal ureter management approaches were divided into 3 categories: (1) extravesical tenting for ureteric excision without cystotomy (EXTRAVESICAL); (2) open cystotomy with intravesical bladder cuff excision (INTRAVESICAL); and (3) extravesical excision with endoscopic management of ureteric orifice (ENDOSCOPIC). Data available for each patient included demographic details, distal ureter management approach, pathology and operative details, as well as the presence and location of local or distant recurrence. Clinical outcomes included overall recurrence-free survival and intravesical recurrence-free survival. Survival analysis was performed with the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was also performed.Results: A total of 820 patients underwent radical nephroureterectomy with a specified distal ureter management approach at 10 Canadian academic institutions. The mean patient age was 69.6 years and the median follow-up was 24.6 months. Of the 820 patients, 406 (49.5%) underwent INTRAVESICAL, 316 (38.5%) underwent EXTRAVESICAL, and 98 (11.9%) underwent ENDOSOPIC distal ureter management. Groups differed significantly in their proportion of females, proportion of laparoscopic cases, presence of carcinoma in situ and pathological tumour stage (p < 0.05). Recurrence-free survival at 5 years was 46.3%, 35.6%, and 30.1% for INTRAVESICAL, EXTRAVESICAL and ENDOSCOPIC, respectively (p < 0.05). Multivariable Cox regression analysis confirmed that INTRAVESICAL resulted in a lower hazard of recurrence compared to EXTRAVESICAL and ENDOSCOPIC. When looking only at intravesical recurrence-free survival (iRFS), a similar trend held up with INTRAVESICAL having the highest iRFS, followed by ENDOSCOPIC and then EXTRAVESICAL management (p < 0.05). At last follow-up, 406 (49.5%) patients were alive and free of disease.Conclusion: Open intravesical excision of the distal ureter (INTRAVESICAL) during radical nephroureterectomy was associated with improved overall and intravesical recurrence-free survival compared with extravesical and endoscopic approaches. These findings suggest that INTRAVESICAL should be considered the gold standard oncologic approach to distal ureter management during radical nephroureterectomy. Limitations of this study include its retrospective design, heterogeneous cohort, and limited follow-up.

Introduction: Our objective is to assess differences in practice patterns and outcomes across 3 regions in bladder cancer patients treated with radical cystectomy under a universal healthcare system.Methods: In total, we included 2287 patients treated with radical cystectomy at 8 Canadian centres from 1998 to 2008. Variables included various clinico-pathologic parameters, recurrence, and death stratified into different regions.Results: In total, 1105 patients were from the east region (group1), 601 from the centre region (group 2), and 581 from the west region of Canada (group 3). The median follow-up of groups 1, 2, and 3 was 22.1, 17.1, and 28.6 months, respectively. Although the overall rate of neoadjuvant chemotherapy was low (3.1%), rates were higher in group 2 compared with groups 1 and 3 (p = 0.07). Continent diversions and extended lymphadenectomy were performed in 23.5%, 8.5%, 23.9% and 39.7%, 27.7%, 12.6% across groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in gender distribution, performance of lymphadenectomy, presence of concomitant carcinoma in situ and lymphovascular invasion across the 3 groups. There were no differences among the 3 geographical locations in terms of stage, surgical margin status, and use of adjuvant chemotherapy. The mean number of days from the transurethral resection of the bladder tumour to cystectomy was 50, 79, 69 days for groups 1, 2, 3, respectively (p = 0.0006). The 5-year overall survival was 53.6%, 66.8%, and 52.4% for groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively (p < 0.0001).Conclusions: Significant variations in practice patterns were noted across different geographic regions in a universal healthcare system. Use of continent diversions, extended lymphadenectomy, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy remains low across all 3 regions. Treatment delays are significant.

Background: Radical cystectomy may provide optimal survival outcomes in the management of clinical T1 bladder cancer. We present our data from a large, multi-institutional, contemporary Canadian series of patients who underwent radical cystectomy for clinical T1 bladder cancer in a single-payer health care system. Methods: We collected a pooled database of 2287 patients who underwent radical cystectomy between 1993 and 2008 in 8 different centres across Canada; 306 of these patients had clinical T1 bladder cancer. Survival data were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis. Results: The median age of patients was 67 years with a mean follow- up time of 35 months. The 5-year overall, disease-specific and disease-free survival was 71%, 77% and 59%, respectively. The 10-year overall and disease-specific survival were 60% and 67%, respectively. Pathologic stage distribution was p0: 32 (11%), pT1: 78 (26%), pT2: 55 (19%), pT3: 60 (20%), pT4: 27 (9%), pTa: 16 (5%), pTis: 28 (10%), pN0: 215 (74%) and pN1-3: 78 (26%). Only 12% of patients were given adjuvant chemotherapy. On multivariate analysis, only margin status and pN stage were independently associated with overall, disease-specific and disease-free survival. Interpretation: These results indicate that clinical T1 bladder cancer may be significantly understaged. Identifying factors associated with understaged and/or disease destined to progress (despite any prior intravesical or repeat transurethral therapies prior to radical cystectomy) will be critical to improve survival outcomes without over-treating clinical T1 disease that can be successfully managed with bladder preservation strategies. Contexte : La cystectomie radicale peut donner des resultats optimaux en lien avec la survie dans la prise en charge d’un cancer de la vessie de stade clinique T1. Nous presentons ici les donnees provenant d’une recente etude multicentrique de grande envergure portant sur des patients canadiens ayant subi une cystectomie radicale pour le traitement d’un cancer de la vessie de stade clinique T1 dans un systeme de sante a payeur unique. Methodologie : Nous avons cumule les donnees provenant de 2 287 patients ayant subi une cystectomie radicale entre 1993 et 2008 dans 8 centres differents au Canada; 306 de ces patients presentaient un cancer de la vessie de stade clinique T1. Les donnees liees a la survie ont ete analysees a l’aide de la methode de Kaplan-Meier et du modele de regression de Cox. Resultats : L’âge median des patients etait de 67 ans, et la duree moyenne du suivi, de 35 mois. La survie globale, la survie specifique a la maladie et la survie sans maladie apres 5 ans etaient de 71 %, 77 % et 59%, respectivement. La survie globale et la survie specifique a la maladie apres 10 ans etaient de 60 % et 67 %, respectivement. Les stades pathologiques se repartissaient ainsi : p0 : 32 (11 %), pT1 : 78 (26 %), pT2 : 55 (19 %), pT3 : 60 (20 %), pT4 : 27 (9 %), pTa : 16 (5 %), pTis : 28 (10 %), pN0 : 215 (74 %) et pN1-3 : 78 (26 %). Seulement 12 % des patients ont recu une chimiotherapie adjuvante. A l’analyse multivariee, seuls le statut des marges chirurgicales et le stade pN etaient independants de la survie globale, la survie specifique a la maladie et la survie sans maladie. Interpretation : Ces resultats indiquent que le stade d’un cancer de la vessie d’abord classe comme T1 peut avoir ete grandement sous-evalue. L’identification des facteurs associes a un cancer dont le stade a ete sous-evalue et/ou a une maladie destinee a evoluer (malgre un traitement intravesical anterieur ou des traitements transuretraux repetes avant la cystectomie radicale) jouera un role crucial dans la hausse des taux de survie sans surtraiter la maladie clinique de stade T1 pouvant etre prise en charge de facon efficace par des strategies de conservation de la vessie.

Background: The present study documents the natural history and outcomes of high-risk bladder cancer after radical cystectomy (RC) in patients who did not receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy during a contemporary time period.Methods: We analyzed 1180 patients from 1993 to 2008 with >pT3N0 or pT0-4N+ bladder cancer who underwent RC ± standard (sLND) or extended (eLND) lymph node dissection from 8 Canadian centres.Results: Of the 1180 patients, 55% (n = 643) underwent sLND, 34% (n = 402) underwent ePLND and 11% did not undergo a formal LND. Of the total number of patients, 321 (27%) received adjuvant chemotherapy. The median follow-up was 2.1 years (range: 0.6 to 12.9). Overall 30-day mortality was 3.2%. Clinical and pathological stages T3-4 were present in 6.1% and 86.7% of the patients, respectively; this demonstrates a dramatic understaging. Overall survival (OS) at 2 and 5 years was 60% and 43%, respectively. Patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy hada 2- and 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) of 72% and 57% versus 64% and 51% for those who did not (log-rank p = 0.0039). The 2- and 5-year OS for high-risk node-negative disease was 67%and 52%, respectively, whereas for node-positive patients, the OS was 52% and 32%, respectively (p < 0.001). The OS, DSS and RFS for patients with pN0 were significantly improved compared to those who did not undergo a LND (log-rank p = 0.0035, 0.0241 and 0.0383, respectively).Interpretation: This series suggests that bladder cancer outcomes inadvanced disease have improved in the modern era. The need for improved staging investigations, use of neoadjuvant chemotherapyand performance of complete LND is emphasized.