IJU this issue

Abstract

This issue includes 12 Original Articles, two Review Articles, one Case Report and one Urological Note. In one of the Review Articles, Kageyama et al. (Shiga, Japan) traced the history of proteome research in urothelial cancers. In this review, they introduced one promising factor named C7orf24/GGCT as a good candidate target molecule for the therapy. Unfortunately, there are only a few molecules to date that are utilized in the clinical field. The other Review Article by Elsamra et al. (New York, USA) picked up a very practical topic on stenting for malignant ureteral obstruction. Taguchi et al. (Tokyo, Japan) retrospectively reviewed 200 cases of metastatic urothelial carcinoma in terms of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). They concluded that elevation of pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is a poor prognostic factor for metastatic urothelial cancers. In terms of urothelial cancer, Satake et al. (Tokyo, Japan) reported that preoperative pyuria is a good prognostic marker for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. They also concluded that the presence of preoperative pyuria is a useful predictor for recurrence after bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy. These two articles suggest the important roles of the immune system in the treatment of urothelial cancer. Gershman et al. (Minnesota, USA) examined whether there is a difference in the risk of estimated glomerular filtration rate decline between continent and incontinent urinary diversion after radical cystectomy in patients with preoperative chronic kidney disease stage 2 or 3a. That study gave us very important information that there was no significant difference in long-term renal function between two types of urinary diversions. As Zapata et al. (North Carolina, USA) concluded from the Shared Equal Access Regional Cancer Hospital database, it is interesting that smoking is a predictor of extracapsular extension, positive surgical margin or larger tumor volume. They speculate that smoking might have an impact on the immunological response against prostate cancer. This issue contains two articles related to lymph node dissection. One on penile cancer, by da Costa et al. (Sao Paulo, Brazil), reported that lymphovascular invasion and lymph node ratio (the number of positive nodes/number of total resected nodes) were the independent prognostic factors. The authors successfully showed the impact of risk stratification using lymph node ratio, lymphovascular invasion and extranodal extension on the prognosis of node-positive penile cancer. In another article, Nakamura et al. (Kyoto, Japan) insisted on the importance of resecting both residual retroperitoneal lymph node mass and extraretroperitoneal masses because of the histopathological discordance. Recently, chronic kidney disease has become a serious concern in carrying out kidney surgery. Nephron-sparing surgery for small renal mass is required as much as possible in order to prevent chronic kidney disease after surgery. Lee et al. (Seoul, Korea) compared postoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate between kidney donors and radical nephrectomy patients. According to their propensity-matched study, definite estimated glomerular filtration rate recovery was observed in the donor nephrectomy group rather than the radical nephrectomy group, suggesting kidney cancer itself has an unfavorable nature. In terms of voiding dysfunction, a near-infrared spectroscopic study of interstitial cystitis patients by Matsumoto et al. (Chiba, Japan) is very unique. It sheds light on the neuromodulatory approach to interstitial cystitis. I appreciate you understanding that I cannot introduce all the issues because of the limited space. None declared.