Hyperandrogenism secondary to testicular cancer typically arises in patients in whom Leydig cell hyperplasia or neoplasia can be identified. Additionally, benign and malignant adrenocortical tumors can also present with signs and symptoms of hyperandrogenism. We report a case of a 40-year-old gentleman who experienced several months of weight gain, worsening gynecomastia, and mood changes secondary to high testosterone and estradiol levels. Workup initially was negative for testicular malignancy and positive for a benign-appearing lesion in the adrenal gland. Despite adrenalectomy, symptoms continued to persist and ultimately a testicular cancer without Leydig cell involvement was identified.

Introduction

Intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy is the gold standard adjuvant treatment for patients with high-grade non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Despite the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and bladder cancer, the association between MetS and BCG failure is unknown. The objective of this study was to characterize disease recurrence following BCG in patients with and without MetS.

Methods

We retrospectively evaluated the records of patients undergoing TURBT at our institution in 2012-2015 for NMIBC and identified those who received adjuvant BCG therapy. MetS was defined as having three of four components: diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, or body mass index (BMI)≥30kg/m². The primary outcome was recurrence or progression. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared analysis, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox multivariable regression analyses were performed.

Results

High grade was present in 83/90 (92.2%) patients. MetS was present in 27/90 (30%) patients. Median follow-up was 20 months. On Kaplan-Meier analysis, patients with MetS had worse DFS compared with patient without MetS. On multivariable analysis, BMI≥30 kg/m² was a significant predictor of recurrence or progression (HR 2.94, 95% CI: 1.43-6.03). Presence of MetS did not significantly affect the type of BCG failure.

Conclusions

The association between MetS and failure to respond to BCG therapy is multifactorial but is in part associated with obesity. Elevated BMI is strongly associated with recurrence or progression. Further studies are warranted to investigate the relationship between increased adiposity and response to BCG, especially as other novel immunotherapeutic agents are likely to enter the NMIBC space.

Background

Intravesical Mitomycin-C (MMC) following transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT), while efficacious, is associated with side effects and poor utilization. Continuous saline bladder irrigation (CSBI) has been examined as an alternative. In this study we sought to compare the rates of recurrence and/or progression in patients with NMIBC who were treated with either MMC or CSBI after TURBT.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed records of patients with NMIBC at our institution in 2012-2015. Perioperative use of MMC (40 mg in 20 mL), CSBI (two hours), or neither were recorded. Primary outcome was time to recurrence or progression. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared analysis, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox multivariable regression analyses were performed.

Results

205 patients met inclusion criteria. Forty-five (22.0%) patients received CSBI, 71 (34.6%) received MMC, and 89 (43.4%) received no perioperative therapy. On survival analysis, MMC was associated with improved DFS compared with CSBI (p = 0.001) and no treatment (p = 0.0009). On multivariable analysis, high risk disease was associated with increased risk of recurrence or progression (HR 2.77, 95% CI: 1.28-6.01), whereas adjuvant therapy (HR 0.35, 95% CI: 0.20-0.59) and MMC (HR 0.43, 95% CI: 0.25-0.75) were associated with decreased risk.

Conclusions

Postoperative MMC was associated with improved DFS compared with CSBI and no treatment. The DFS benefit seen with CSBI in other studies may be limited to patients receiving prolonged irrigation. New intravesical agents being evaluated may consider saline as a control given our data demonstrating that short-term CSBI is not superior to TURBT alone.

BACKGROUND: Sperm banking refers to the collection and storage of sperm cells for future use. Despite the recommendations of major medical societies, sperm banking is not discussed sufficiently with patients at risk of future fertility. Majority of Americans utilize the internet regarding health information. The aim of this study is to assess the reading level and the quality of online health information on sperm banking. METHODS: The top 50 search results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo were selected after searching for the term sperm banking. Duplicate pages, advertisements, news and magazines, blog posts, videos, paid subscriptions, articles intended for health professionals, and non-related pages were excluded. Four validated readability and two quality assessment tools were used to score the text. Websites were divided into five categories: academic, hospital-affiliated, commercial, non-profit health advocacy, and non-categorized. Descriptive statistics, one sample t-test, and Pearsons correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Forty-one webpages were included. The mean Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) for all pages was 46.9/100 and the mean reading level was 11th grade, compared to the recommended 6th grade level, across various assessment tools. Utilizing the DISCERN Instrument, quality of online health information was fair. Seven percent of pages received a good quality score and no pages received a score of excellent. On average, 1.5 out of 4 criteria categorized by the JAMA Benchmark, a validated quality assessment tool, were met. The hospital-affiliated webpages received the best reading scores and commercial pages received the highest quality scores. CONCLUSIONS: Online health information on sperm banking available in English is of poor quality based on several quality assessment tools and at a reading level significantly higher than what is recommended. Further efforts are needed by providers and healthcare institutions to improve the quality of information available to patients.

Background

In the current study, the authors attempted to describe the incidence, most common sites, and mortality of second primary malignancies among survivors of common cancers.

Methods

The authors identified patients aged ≥18 years who were diagnosed with a primary malignancy from the 10 most common cancer sites (prostate, breast, lung, colon, rectum, bladder, uterus, kidney, melanoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma) between 1992 and 2008 from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data. Factors associated with the incidence of second primary malignancies were explored using bivariable and multivariable models, and mortality attributable to first and second primary malignancies was examined.

Results

A cohort of 2,116,163 patients was identified, 170,865 of whom (8.1%) developed a second primary malignancy. Survivors of bladder cancer had the highest risk of developing a second cancer. In a multivariable model controlling for age, race, tumor grade, stage of disease, marital status, educational level, and income, a history of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (hazard ratios of 2.70 and 2.88, respectively, for men and women) and bladder cancer (hazard ratios of 1.88 and 1.66, respectively, for men and women) predicted the highest risk of developing a second cancer. For patients with 2 incident cancers, 13% died of their initial cancer, but greater than one-half (55%) died of their second primary malignancy. Lung cancer was the cause of death in 12% of patients with 2 incident cancers.

Conclusions

Nearly 1 in 12 patients diagnosed with a common cancer developed a second malignancy, the most common of which was lung cancer. Greater than one-half of patients with 2 incident cancers died of their secondary malignancy. The findings from the current study may inform care strategies among cancer survivors. Cancer 2016;122:3075-3086. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Background

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the reference standard treatment for patients with high-grade, non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). We previously described noncompliance with guidelines for BCG use in patients with high-risk disease. In the current study, we sought to characterize how the number of endoscopic resections of bladder tumors affects BCG utilization using population-level data.

Patients and methods

We queried a Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database to evaluate claims records of 4776 patients diagnosed with high-grade NMIBC between 1992 and 2002 and followed until 2007, who survived for at least 2 years and who did not undergo definitive treatment with cystectomy, radiotherapy, or systemic chemotherapy. We stratified patients on the basis of the number of endoscopic resections of bladder tumors. We used chi-square analysis to compare number of resections to BCG utilization and multinomial logistic regression analysis to quantify BCG utilization by patient and tumor characteristics.

Results

Utilization of BCG increases with increasing endoscopic resections from 40% at diagnosis to 72% after 6 resections. The cumulative rate of at least an induction course of BCG plateaus after 3 resections. Lower BCG utilization was associated with advanced age (≥ 80 years), while increased utilization was associated with being married, higher disease stage (Tis and T1) and grade (undifferentiated), and increasing endoscopic resections.

Conclusion

A significant fraction of patients with NMIBC do not receive induction BCG despite its proven benefit in minimizing recurrences. Most patients receive BCG only after multiple endoscopic resections. Strategies focused on earlier adoption of BCG to prevent recurrences instead of reacting to recurrences may limit progression and improve survival.

Purpose

We reviewed the literature on adjuvant therapies for patients with high risk localized kidney cancer following surgical resection. In this analysis we merge 2 recently published prospective trials with conflicting results within the context of their respective designs. In addition, we spotlight upcoming trials that use novel immunotherapy based checkpoint inhibitors and have the potential to establish a new standard of care.

Materials and methods

We searched PubMed^® for English language articles published through January 2017 using the keywords "renal cell carcinoma," "kidney cancer," "immunotherapy," "targeted therapy" and "adjuvant therapy." ClinicalTrials.gov was queried for ongoing studies. Relevant data recently presented at major urology and medical oncology meetings are also included.

Results

Adjuvant therapies for high risk localized kidney cancer can be grouped into the categories of 1) traditional immunotherapy, 2) inhibitors of the vascular endothelial growth factor and mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathways, 3) vaccines and antibody dependent cytotoxic agents, and 4) immune checkpoint inhibitors. Several trials of traditional immunotherapy, such as interferon-α and high dose interleukin-2, failed to demonstrate benefit as adjuvant treatment and were associated with significant adverse events. Vascular endothelial growth factor and mTOR inhibitors have less severe toxicity in metastatic disease and, therefore, are natural considerations for adjuvant trials. However, current data are conflicting. The ASSURE (Sunitinib Malate or Sorafenib Tosylate in Treating Patients with Kidney Cancer that was Removed by Surgery, NCT00326898) trial found no recurrence-free survival benefit of sorafenib or sunitinib over placebo, while S-TRAC (Clinical Trial Comparing Efficacy and Safety of Sunitinib versus Placebo for the Treatment of Patients at High Risk of Recurrent Renal Cell Cancer, NCT00375674) revealed that 1 year of sunitinib improved recurrence-free survival by 1.2 years. Vaccine based treatments and antibody dependent cytotoxic agents have had mixed results. New trials evaluating immune checkpoint inhibitors are planned, given the impressive efficacy and tolerability as second line agents in metastatic disease. Future adjuvant trials are likely to be guided by molecular signatures to treat patients most likely to benefit.

Conclusions

Based on the available data, there appears to be no role for traditional immunotherapy as adjuvant treatment in patients with high risk localized kidney cancer following surgical resection. S-TRAC provides evidence that 1 year of adjuvant sunitinib in patients with higher risk locoregional disease increases the median time to recurrence. However, the data on overall survival are immature and adverse effects are common. Results from trials investigating immune checkpoint inhibitors are highly anticipated.