Survival impact of variant histology diagnosis in upper tract urothelial carcinoma Journal Article


Authors: Nogueira, L. M.; Yip, W.; Assel, M. J.; Tracey, A. T.; Wong, N. C.; Alvim, R. G.; Al-Ahmadie, H.; Bajorin, D. F.; Coleman, J. A.
Article Title: Survival impact of variant histology diagnosis in upper tract urothelial carcinoma
Abstract: PURPOSE: Little is known regarding the prognostic implications of variant histology in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). We sought to evaluate the impact of variant histology UTUC on patient survival outcomes at our institution. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified 705 patients who underwent nephroureterectomy for UTUC at our institution between January 1995 and December 2018. We tested the association between variant histology and cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) using separate multivariable Cox models after adjusting for pathological stage. RESULTS: Forty-seven patients (6.7%) had variant histology, with prevalence increasing over time (p=0.003). Other demographic and surgical characteristics were similar between variant histology and pure urothelial carcinoma groups. While patients with variant histology were more likely to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (38% vs 15%, p <0.001), they were also more likely to have a higher pathological T stage (p <0.001). Variant histology was associated with significantly worse CSS (HR: 2.14; 95% CI 1.33, 3.44; p=0.002) and OS (HR: 1.74; 95% CI 1.15, 2.63; p=0.008). After adjusting for pathological T stage, variant histology was not significantly associated with CSS (HR: 1.17; 95% CI 0.72, 1.89; p=0.5) or OS (HR: 1.20; 95% CI 0.79, 1.84; p=0.4). CONCLUSIONS: Variant histology UTUC is associated with advanced stage and poor survival, and could serve as a useful biomarker for high-risk disease when pathological stage is unknown. However, the inferior CSS and OS with variant histology can be explained by the higher tumor stage on nephroureterectomy. Thus, finding variant histology on surgical pathology does not provide additional prognostic information beyond stage.
Keywords: retrospective studies; pathology; retrospective study; bladder tumor; urinary bladder neoplasms; nephroureterectomy; ureteral neoplasms; carcinoma, transitional cell; transitional cell carcinoma; ureter tumor; humans; prognosis; human
Journal Title: Journal of Urology
Volume: 208
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0022-5347
Publisher: Elsevier Science, Inc.  
Date Published: 2022-10-01
Start Page: 813
End Page: 820
Language: English
DOI: 10.1097/ju.0000000000002799
PUBMED: 35686817
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC10163931
DOI/URL:
Notes: Article -- Export Date: 3 October 2022 -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. Jonathan Coleman
    347 Coleman
  2. Dean Bajorin
    660 Bajorin
  3. Melissa Jean Assel
    110 Assel
  4. Ricardo Goncalves Alvim
    26 Alvim
  5. Nathan Colin Wong
    25 Wong
  6. Andrew Thomas Tracey
    13 Tracey
  7. Wesley Yip
    12 Yip