Soil moisture monitoring over wetland areas using GNSS signals

International audienceDuring summer 2015, two experimental campaigns in the framework of the Mistrale Project have been carried. In those campaigns a complete GNSS-R sensor was installed on an ultralight aircraft, allowing gathering polarimetric GNSS-R data. The flights were done in France over the Camargue area (flooded areas, marshlands and water salinity changes), and Pech Rouge area (agricultural plots).The estimated reflection coefficients acquired during the flights, have been computed and geo-referenced on ground, showing that the reflection coefficients are sensible to terrain changes. Main results are presented in this work

Impact of metastasectomy on cancer specific and overall survival in metastatic renal cell carcinoma: Analysis of the REMARCC registry

Introduction & Objectives: As treatment paradigms for management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) have shifted, the role of surgical metastasectomy in management of mRCC has been in similar flux. We examined impact on survival of surgical metastatectomy stratified in the setting of different mRCC risk groups. Materials & Methods: Multicenter retrospective analysis of patients from the REMARCC (REgistry of MetAstatic RCC) database. The cohort was subdivided utilizing Motzer RCC criteria (low, intermediate, and high risk), and impact of metastasectomy was analyzed via multivariable analysis (MVA) and Kaplan Meier analysis within each Motzer subgroup (KMA). Primary outcome was overall survival (OS) and secondary outcome was cancer specific mortality (CSM). Results: 431 patients (59 low risk, 274 intermediate risk, 98 high risk) with median follow-up of 19.2 months were analyzed. Metastasectomy was performed in 22 (37%), 66 (24%), and 32 (16%) of low, intermediate and high risk groups (p=0.012). Risk groups differed significantly with respect to ECOG performance status (p<0.001) and number of metastases at diagnosis (low 2, intermediate 3.4, high 5.1, p<0.001). MVA for CSM revealed male sex (OR 1.77, p=0.015), number of metastases at diagnosis (OR 1.18, p<0.001), and higher risk category [low (referent) vs. intermediate OR 2.16, p=0.046, high OR 2.44, p=0.002] to be independent risk factors. MVA for OS demonstrated increasing number of metastases at diagnosis (OR 1.78, p<0.001) and higher risk category [low (referent) vs. intermediate OR 2.37, p=0.03, high OR 2.61, p=0.001] to be independent risk factors. KMA for CSM demonstrated that metastasectomy was associated with longer cancer-specific survival in low (32.78 vs. 76.09 months, p=0.004) but not intermediate (p=0.060) and high risk (p=0.595) groups. KMA for OS demonstrated that metastasectomy was associated with longer median OS in the low (25.8 vs. 92.7 months, p=0.003) and intermediate risk (20.1 vs. 26.3, p=0.038), but not high risk (p=0.911) groups (Figure). Conclusions: Metastasectomy was not associated with benefit in high risk mRCC patients, but was associated with improved CSM in low risk and improved OS in low and intermediate risk mRCC patients. Further investigation is requisite to refine criteria for employment of metastasectomy

Open versus minimally invasive cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC): Results from a multicenter retrospective study

Aim of the study: Recent evidence outlined that not all patients with mRCC might benefit from CN. However, there is lack of data on perioperative morbidity after this procedure. We aimed to investigate the impact of surgical approach on perioperative outcomes and surgical complications relying on a multicenter international registry. Materials and methods: Clinical data of 681 patients with mRCC undergoing CN at 11 centers included in the REgistry of MetAstatic RCC (REMARCC) from January 2014 to December 2017 were retrospectively collected. Patients with complete data on demographics and comorbidity profiles were included in final analysis. Study endpoints were: a) postoperative complications, assessed and graded using the modified Clavien-Dindo scale, and b) 30th day readmission rate. Results: Overall, 369 (54.2%) patients (247 open CN [OCN] and 122 minimally-invasive CN [MICN]) were considered. Patients treated with OCN had a significantly higher cT stage (p = 0.01), tumor size (p < 0.0001) and cN stage (p = 0.04). Conversely, there was no difference in terms of gender, age, Charlson comorbidity index, body mass index, site of metastasic lesions and baseline hemoglobin level, LDH level, glomerular filtration rate and calcemia. Lymph node dissection (LND) rate and renal vein/vena cava thrombectomy were significantly higher in the OCN compared to the MICN (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Median estimated blood loss was significantly lower in the MICN compared to the OCN group (100 vs 450 cc, p < 0.0001). The rate of removal of adjacent organs beyond the tumorbearing kidney was not significantly different among the two groups. Patients with MICN compared to OCN had a significantly lower intraoperative (10% vs 22.6%, p = 0.004), overall postoperative (18% vs 38.6%, p < 0.0001) and major postoperative (2.5 vs 8.2%, p = 0.03) complications and lower median length of stay (5 vs 8 days, p < 0.0001). Perioperative mortality was reported in 3 patients in the OCN group. Readmission rate was 7.1% in both groups. Discussion: MICN was feasible and achieved acceptable perioperative morbidity in selected patients with mRCC. The main study limitation is the retrospective design with risk of selection and attrition bias