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BACKGROUND: Relative to radical nephrectomy (RN), partial nephrectomy (PN) performed for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) may protect from non-cancer-related deaths. The authors tested this hypothesis in a cohort of PN and RN patients. METHODS: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-9 database allowed identification of 2198 PN (22.4%) and 7611 RN (77.6%) patients treated for T1aN0M0 RCC between 1988 and 2004. Analyses matched for age, year of surgery, tumor size, and Fuhrman grade addressed the effect of nephrectomy type (RN vs PN) on overall mortality (Cox regression models) and on non-cancer-related mortality (competing-risks regression models). RESULTS: Relative to PN, RN was associated with 1.23-fold (P = .001) increased overall mortality rate, which translated into a 4.9% and 3.1% absolute increase in mortality at 5 and 10 years after surgery, respectively. Similarly, non-cancer-related death rate was significantly higher after RN in competing-risks regression models (P < .001), which translated into a 4.6% and 4.5% absolute increase in non-cancer-related mortality at 5 and 10 years after surgery, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Relative to PN, RN predisposes to an increase in overall mortality and non-cancer-related death rate in patients with T1a RCC. In consequence, PN should be attempted whenever technically feasible. Selective referrals should be considered if PN expertise is unavailable Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.

BACKGROUND. Active surveillance (AS) represents a treatment option for select patients with low-risk, organ-confined prostate cancer (PCa). In this report, the authors addressed the rates of misclassification associated with the use of 5 different clinical criteria for AS. Misclassification was defined as the presence of either nonorgan-confined disease or high-grade PCa. METHODS. Between 1992 and 2007, 4885 patients underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) at 1 of 2 European academic centers, and the patients were identified who fulfilled the criteria for AS according to 5 different investigational groups (Hardie et al, Roemeling et al, Choo et al, Klotz, and D'Amico and Coleman). Statistics targeted the rates of misclassification for each of the 5 definitions. RESULTS. Four thousand three hundred eight patients, 4047 patients, 3993 patients, 2455 patients, and 2345 patients fulfilled the AS criteria of Hardie et al, Roemeling et al, Choo et al, Klotz, and D'Amico and Coleman, respectively. Extracapsular extension was reported in 13.5% to 26% of patients, and seminal vesicle invasion was reported in 2.9% to 8.2% of patients. When PCa with Gleason scores from 8 to 10 at RP was considered high grade, the misclassification rates were 27%, 25%, 25%, 15%, and 14% for the 5 studies, respectively. Conversely, when PCa with Gleason scores from 7 to 10 was considered high grade, the misclassification rates increased to 56%, 55%, 45%, 42%, and 39%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS. The currently available AS criteria are limited by a high rate of misclassification. The use of more selective AS criteria may reduce the rate of misclassification but also may reduce significantly the percentage of patients who may be considered for AS. Cancer 2008. © 2008 American Cancer Society.

BACKGROUND: Nephroureterectomy is the surgical standard of care for patients with upper urinary-tract urothelial carcinoma. The objectives of the current study were to identify the most informative predictors of cancer-specific mortality after nephroureterectomy, to devise an algorithm capable of predicting the individual probability of cancerspecific mortality, and to compare its prognostic accuracy to that of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) staging system. METHODS: Within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, the authors identified 5918 patients who had been treated with nephroureterectomy. Within the development cohort (n ¼ 2959), multivariate Cox regression models predicting cancer-specific mortality were fitted by using age, stage, nodal status, sex, grade, race, type of surgery (nephroureterectomy with or without bladder-cuff removal), and tumor location (renal pelvis vs ureter). Backward variable elimination according to the Akaike information criterion identified the most accurate and parsimonious model. Model validation and calibration were performed within the external validation cohort (n ¼ 2959). External validation was also applied to the UICC staging system. RESULTS: The 5-year freedom from cancer-specific mortality rates in both the development and external validation cohorts was 77.3%. The most informative and parsimonious nomogram for cancer-specific-mortality–free survival relied on age, pT and pN stages, and tumor grade. In external validation, nomogram prediction of 5-year cancer-specific-mortality–free rate was 75.4% accurate and was significantly better (P < .001) than the UICC staging system (64.8%). CONCLUSIONS: The current nomogram is capable of predicting the prognosis in patients with upper urinary-tract urothelial carcinoma treated by nephroureterectomy with better accuracy than the UICC staging system. The authors recommend the application of this nomogram to routine clinical practice when counseling or making clinical decisions. Cancer 2010;116:3774–84. V C 2010 American Cancer Society.