Clinical destiny of indeterminate pulmonary nodules in patients undergoing radical cystectomy for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder.

Abstract

297 Background: Perioperative risks and significant quality of life concerns following radical cystectomy (RC) render accurate pre-operative staging paramount, since metastatic patients are unlikely to benefit from extirpation. Yet, incidental indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs) are a common pre-operative finding in clinical practice, thus representing a significant management challenge. As such, we sought to evaluate the natural history of IPNs in a large institutional cohort that underwent RC. Methods: We reviewed our institutional database for patients who underwent RC from 2000 through 2014 for urothelial carcinoma (UCC) of the bladder and had at least 1 identifiable pulmonary lesion on preoperative staging imaging measuring <2cm in any axis. Patients who were M1 at surgery, had gynecologic, colorectal, or missing pathology, or non-urothelial histology were excluded. We sought to determine the natural history of these pulmonary lesions and evaluated predictors of metastatic etiology. Results: During the study period, 681 RC were performed at our institution. We identified 73 patients with an identifiable preoperative IPN who met inclusion criteria and underwent RC. In this subset, 23.3% were female, 21.9% were active smokers, and 54.8% former smokers. The median age at surgery was 70±8.6 years. Nearly half (49.3%) received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. 61.6% of RC were performed using the traditional open approach, while 38.4% were performed robotically. Final pathologic staging included 16.4% pT0N0Mx, 19.2% pTa/Tis/T1N0Mx, 42.5% pT2-4N0Mx, and 21.9% pTanyN+Mx. Median IPN size was 0.7±0.3cm. At median follow up of 23.5±21.9 months, 93% (68/73) of IPNs in our cohort were clinically benign, with metastatic urothelial cancer confirmed in only 4 patients, and a primary lung malignancy diagnosed in 1 patient. Conclusions: The majority of IPNs in patients who proceeded to RC for UCC of the bladder were stable upon follow-up and rarely represented malignancy. As such, in appropriately screened UCC patients, IPNs should not be a barrier to proceeding with extirpative surgical therapy.