Independent predictors of cancer‐specific survival in transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract

Abstract

BACKGROUND. The objective of the current study was to identify variables that were predictive of cancer‐specific survival in patients with nonmetastatic transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract (UUT‐TCC). METHODS. Clinical and pathologic data from 269 patients who underwent nephroureterectomy for UUT‐TCC from 1989 to 2005 in 3 urologic European centers were collected retrospectively. Log‐rank tests and Cox proportional‐hazards regression models were used for univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS. Two hundred fifty patients underwent nephroureterectomy, and 19 patients underwent concomitant cystectomy for synchronous muscle‐invasive bladder cancer. The median follow‐up of the whole cohort was 34 months, and the median follow‐up of the patients who remained alive and disease‐free was 52 months. At follow‐up, 57 cancer‐related deaths (21.2%) were censored, and 169 patients (62.8%) were alive and disease‐free. On univariate analysis, a history of previous bladder cancer, pathologic stage of the primary tumor and lymph nodes, tumor grade, the presence of lymphovascular invasion, tumor site, synchronous muscle‐invasive bladder TCC, and tumor multifocality were associated with cancer‐specific survival probabilities. On multivariate analysis, pathologic stage of the primary tumor and lymph nodes, tumor multifocality within the UUT, synchronous muscle‐invasive bladder TCC, and a history of bladder TCC before the diagnosis of UUT‐TCC were independent predictors of cancer‐specific survival probabilities. CONCLUSIONS. In a multi‐institutional dataset of patients who had undergone nephroureterectomy for UUT‐TCC, the current results indicated that pathologic stage of the primary tumor and lymph nodes, a history of prior bladder TCC, the presence of synchronous muscle‐invasive bladder cancer, and tumor multifocality within the UUT were independent predictors of cancer‐specific survival probabilities. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.