Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:The biomechanical and mental strains placed on the surgeon while performing laparoscopic procedures are significantly higher compared with open surgical techniques. We undertook this study to assess the prevalence of surgeons' deleterious perceptions or injuries related to laparoscopic urologic surgery. METHODS:Members of endourological society were mailed a questionnaire evaluating their laparoscopic experience, total number of standard laparoscopic surgeries (SLS), hand-assisted laparoscopic surgeries (HALS), and robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgeries (RALS) they performed. The subjects reported any neuromuscular or arthritic injuries sustained during laparoscopic surgery, and graded the degree of pain, numbness, and fatigue they experienced. RESULTS:A total of 73 urologists completed the questionnaires. The average responder was 44 years old, had completed a median of 117 procedures, and was performing 3 laparoscopic surgeries per week. Neuromuscular or arthritic symptoms during surgery were reported by 22 responders (30%), the most common was finger paresthesia (18%). At the conclusion of HALS, 45% of the surgeons suffered from hand and wrist numbness and 37% reported pain in these areas. A significant association was observed between the risk of sustaining injury during surgery and the total number of laparoscopic procedures performed by the responder (P = 0.016). RALS was the procedure least associated with injuries, and HALS the most. CONCLUSIONS:The laparoscopic operating theater is a hostile ergonomic environment. Surgeons' awareness of the common injuries associated with laparoscopic surgery and careful equipment adjustments before surgery are mandatory to minimize injury. Future improvements in instrument design according to ergonomic principles are highly warranted.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:Improvement in the prognosis of patient groups due to stage or grade reclassification is called the Will Rogers phenomenon. We determined the significance of the Will Rogers phenomenon in urological oncology. MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:Studies referring to the Will Rogers phenomenon in urological oncology were identified through a MEDLINE search. Samples of articles not referring to the phenomenon directly but likely to be biased by it, such as articles comparing contemporary data to historical controls, were also reviewed. RESULTS:In prostate cancer the Will Rogers phenomenon is the result of the late 1990s acceptance that Gleason scores 2 to 4 should not be assigned on prostate biopsy. Consequently grade inflation occurred and current readings are almost 1 Gleason grade higher compared to past readings of the same biopsy. The result is an illusion of improvement in grade adjusted prognosis. In bladder cancer the Will Rogers phenomenon arises from improvement in histopathological processing of cystectomy specimens enabling the identification of microscopic perivesical fat infiltration and lymph node metastases not recognized in the past. Up staging from pT2 to pT3 and N0 to N+ may partly explain the improved stage adjusted survival after radical cystectomy observed in contemporary series. The Will Rogers phenomenon may also explain the correlation between the total number of lymph nodes removed at radical cystectomy and survival. As more lymph nodes are removed the probability of identifying metastases and up staging to N+ increases. CONCLUSIONS:Comparison of contemporary results to historical controls may be biased by the Will Rogers phenomenon. Ignoring the possibility of stage or grade reclassification may lead to erroneous conclusions.

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:Radical cystectomy (RC) with urinary diversion remains as one of the more complex urological procedures despite considerable progress in surgical technique. Increasing patient age, along with associated age-related comorbidities, may portend a poor outcome in those undergoing such complicated surgical procedures. Herein, we report our experience with radical cystectomy in the elderly population. METHODS:We retrospectively reviewed our RC results from 1995 to 2003. Patients >or = 80 years old were included in this analysis. Perioperative outcomes, as well as overall and disease-free survival were evaluated. RESULTS:A total of 517 patients underwent RC with urinary diversion during this time period. Forty-nine (9.5%) patients were >or= 80 years old. Mean age and BMI were 83.4 years (range 80-94) and 27.1kg/m2 (range 17.4-39.0), respectively. Eighty-three percent of the patients had >or= 1 comorbidities and 67% had a significant smoking history. Mean operative time and estimated blood loss were 279 minutes and 985 ml, respectively. Thirty-two patients (76%) required blood transfusion in the perioperative period. Among patients found to have urothelial cancer a pathological analysis (36), 21 patients (58%) had < pT3a while 15 patients (42%) had >or= pT3b or >or= N1. Intraoperative complications (5%) included one large bowel injury and hypogastric artery laceration. Thirty- and 90-day mortality rates were 9.5% and 11%, respectively. Early and late postoperative complications were 57% and 17% and 5-year overall and disease-free survival were 44% and 36%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:Radical cystectomy with urinary diversion in patients >or= 80 years old is related with significant short-term and long-term morbidity. Proper patient selection assessing performance status and psychosocial parameters appear to optimize survival outcomes. However, regardless of age, timely surgical management for localized disease control is essential for ultimate sustained disease-free survival.