Editorial comment on "Effects of tumor size and location on survival in upper tract urothelial carcinoma after nephroureterectomy".

Abstract

© 2017 Indian Journal of Urology | Published by Wolters Kluwer Medknow Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is a rare cancer and accounts for 5% of all urothelial cancers. Because of its rarity, much less is known about this cancer, as compared to urothelial cancers of bladder. Joshi et al.[1] report a retrospective analysis of 8284 patients of UTUC undergoing nephroureterectomy. They evaluated the role of tumor size and location on 5-year overall survival of these patients. Data from the National Cancer Database was collected, and effect of factors such as T stage, pN stage, grade, tumor size, and tumor site (renal pelvis versus ureter) on overall survival was assessed. On multivariate analysis, the authors found that for tumor size <3.5 cm versus ≥3.5 cm, the 5-year overall survival was 45.9% and 58.5%, respectively. Tumor location was not found to make any difference in survival. We congratulate the authors for presenting results from one of the largest series of this rare malignancy. This study provides a wealth of information and raises a few questions.