Clinicopathological Characteristics and Oncological Outcomes of Non-urothelial Bladder Carcinomas: A Multicenter Study

Objective: The incidence of non-urothelial bladder cancers is very low, so our knowledge about their treatment protocols and prognosis is limited. We evaluated the clinicopathological characteristics of 26 patients in three different clinics and aimed to determine the prognostic factors affecting oncological outcomes. Materials and Methods: Between January 2012 and October 2019, we retrospectively analyzed the data of twenty-six patients aged between 44-75 years who were diagnosed and treated due to non-urothelial bladder carcinomas in three clinics. Results: Among twenty-six cases, nineteen (73.1%) were male and seven (26.9%) were female. The mean age at diagnosis was 60.77 +/- 8.52. The most common presenting complaint was gross hematuria (84.6%). It was followed by lower urinary tract symptoms (38.4%). Histological types of tumors were squamous cell carcinoma (9 cases, 34.8%), adenocarcinoma (eight cases carrying different histopathologic subtypes: Mucinous, signet ring cell, plasmacytoid/signet ring cell mixed variant and signet ring cell containing osteoclast-like giant cell, 30.8%), small cell carcinoma (3 cases, 11.5%), large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (2 cases, 7.7%), extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumor (1 case, 3.8%) and malignant undifferentiated mesenchymal tumor (1 case, 3.8%) and leiomyosarcoma (2 cases, 7.6%). At a median follow-up of 13 (2-42) months, the progression-free survival rate was 61.5%, while the overall survival rate was 46.1%. In Kaplan-Meier analysis, the median survival of all cases was found to be 16 (9-33) months. Overall survival times were lower in the presence of advanced (3-4) pathological stages (p=0.006) and higher (>= 2) ECOG scores (p=0.005). Conclusion: In our cases, we observed that overall survival rates increased in patients undergoing multimodal treatments involving radical cystectomy compared to the bladder-sparing approach. The survival rates were higher in squamous cell carcinomas, while the rate of metastasis was higher in adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine tumors. Up-staging rates after cystectomy were higher in adenocarcinomas, sarcomas and squamous cell carcinomas

Clinicopathological Characteristics and Oncological Outcomes of Non-urothelial Bladder Carcinomas: A Multicenter Study

Objective: The incidence of non-urothelial bladder cancers is very low, so our knowledge about their treatment protocols and prognosis is limited. We evaluated the clinicopathological characteristics of 26 patients in three different clinics and aimed to determine the prognostic factors affecting oncological outcomes

The relationship between Chlamydophila pneumoniae IgG titer and coronary atherosclerosis

Background: The role of Chlamydophila pneumoniae (CP) in the progression of atherosclerosis is controversial. Also no sufficient angiographic study is available about the impact of CP infection on severity and intensity of coronary atherosclerosis. We investigated the relation between CP IgG antibody titers and severity and intensity of coronary atherosclerosis Methods: The study population consisted of 516 consecutive patients who underwent a coronary angiography. The group included 353 patients who had coronary artery disease; a control group included 163 subjects with angiographically proven normal coronary arteries. Chlamydophila pneumoniae IgG antibody titers were measured by an enzyme immunoassay method in all patients. Gensini scores and extent scores were used to evaluate the angiographic extent and severity of atherosclerosis. Results: The mean value of IgG antibody titer was 44.3 ± 28.8 IU/ mL in the patients and 39.8±27.4 IU/mL in the control group (p = 0.14). There was no statistically significant correlation between the Gensini scores, extent scores and CP IgG titers (Gensini score: r = +0.103, p = 0.07, extent score: r = +0.110, p = 0.31). When we grouped the patients as high (> 50 IU/mL) and low (< 50 IU/mL) IgG antibody titers, the number of diseased coronary arteries was higher in patients with high IgG antibody titers (respectively: 2.6 ± 1.1 vs. 2.2 ± 0.8, p = 0.01). While the Gensini score was significantly higher in patients with high IgG antibody titers (7.5 ± 4.0 vs. 6.17 ± 4.0, p = 0.01), the extent score did not change with IgG titers (29.8 ± 15.9 vs. 25.8 ± 15.4, p = 0.08). Conclusions: In our study, we investigated the relation between CP infection and coronary atherosclerosis and found that CP IgG antibody titers are associated with the severity of coronary stenosis at higher antibody levels. However, there is no association between CP antibody titers and clinical presentation of coronary artery disease. We suggest that CP has limited effect on coronary atherosclerosis. Copyright © 2008 Via Medica