Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of radiological staging, especially renal venous and perirenal fat invasion, in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Material & Methods: Data of 4823 renal tumor patients from Renal Tumor Database of Association of Uro-oncology in Turkey were evaluated. Of 4823 patients, 3309 RCC patients had complete radiological and histopathological data were included to this study. The Pearson Chi-squared test (χ2) was used to compare radiological and histopathological stages. Results: The mean (SD) age of 3309 patients was 58 (12.3). Preoperative radiological imaging was performed using computed tomography (CT) (n=2510, 75.8%) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (n=799, 24.2%). There was a substantial concordance between radiological and pathological staging (к=0.52, p<0.001). Sensitivities of radiological staging in stage I, II, III and IV were 90.7%, 67.3%, 27.7% and 64.2%, respectively. The sensitivity in stage III was lower than the other stages. Sub-analysis of stage IIIa cases revealed that, for perirenal fat invasion and renal vein invasion, sensitivity values were 15.4% and 11.3%, respectively. Conclusions: There was a substantial concordance between radiological (CT and/or MRI) and pathological T staging in RCC. However, this is not true for T3 cases. Sensitivity of preoperative radiological imaging in patients with pT3a tumors is insufficient and lower than the other stages. Consequently, preoperative imaging in patients with T3 RCC has to be improved, in order to better inform the patients regarding prognosis of their disease.

Purpose: We designed a multicenter, retrospective study to investigate the current trends in initial management of reflux with respect to EAU guidelines in Urology clinics of our country. Materials and Methods: The study group consisted of 1988 renal units (RU) of 1345 patients treated surgically due to VUR between years 2003-2017 in 9 different institutions. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to time of initial treatment and also grouped according to risk factors by “EAU guidelines on VUR”. Results: 1426 RUs were treated initially conservatively and 562 RUs were initially treated with surgery. In initially surgically treated group, success rates of surgery decreased significantly in low and moderate risk groups after 2013 (p=0.046, p=0.0001, respectively), while success rates were not significantly different in high risk group (p=0.46). While 26.6% of patients in low risk group were initially surgically treated before 2013, this rate has increased to 34.6% after 2013, but the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.096). However, performing surgery as the initial treatment approach increased significantly in both moderate and high risk groups (p=0.000 and p=0.0001, respectively) after 2013. Overall success rates of endoscopic and UNC operations were 65% and 92.9% before 2013, 60% and 78.5% after 2013, respectively. Thus the overall success rate for surgery was 72.6%. There was significant difference between success rates of UNC operations before and after 2013(p=0.000), while the difference was not significant in the STING group (p=0.076). Conclusion: Current trends in management of reflux in our country do not yet follow the EAU guidelines on VUR in low and moderate risk groups.

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of the surgical delay for localized prostate cancer (PCa) on adverse pathological features and oncological outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients who underwent surgery for localized prostate cancer were included from the Turkish Urooncology Association (TUA) Prostate Cancer database. A History of previous treatment or active surveillance (AS) were considered as exclusion criteria from the study. Patients were divided into two groups according the time period between the diagnosis and surgery; less than or equal to 90 days (group 1) or longer than 90 days (group 2). Surgical pathology results and oncological outcomes were compared between the two groups. RESULTS A total of 2454 out of 3646 patients were assessed. Pathological findings of the radical prostatectomy (RP) specimens were similar between two groups. However, there was slightly more seminal vesicle invasion in final surgical pathology in group 1 (12.9% vs. 9.3%, respectively p=0.042). 5-year biochemical recurrence free survival times were similar across all D’Amico risk categories between two groups. The regression analysis demonstrated the seminal vesicle invasion as the only factor affecting time to PSA progression in high-risk patients (p<0.001 HR:2.51 CI: 1,58-4,45). CONCLUSION In conclusion, our results in this large cohort suggest that surgical delay does not cause a deterioration for prostate cancer surgical outcomes even in high-risk group of patients. These findings may be helpful for planning the limited healthcare resources especially in conditions like the Covid-19 pandemic where the availability and optimal use of healthcare system resources is crucial.

Purpose To evaluate the effect of risk factors and selected surgical methods on operative and oncological results of patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) with high-risk prostate cancer (HRPC). Methods Retrospective analysis of patients, who underwent RP for HRPC from 13 urology centers between 1990 to 2019, was performed. Groups were created according to the risk factors of D’Amico classification. Patients with one risk factor were included in group 1 where group 2 consisted of patients with two or three risk factors. Results A total of 1519 patients were included in this study and 1073 (70.6%) patients assigned to group 1 and 446 (29.4%) patients to group 2. Overall (biochemical and/or clinical and/or radiological) progression rate was 12.4% in group 1 and 26.5% in group 2 (p =0.001). Surgical procedure was open RP in 844 (55.6%) patients and minimally invasive RP in 675 (44.4%) patients (laparoscopic and robot-assisted RP in 230 (15.1%) and 445 (29.3%) patients, respectively). Progression rates were similar in different types of operations (p=0.22). Progression rate was not significantly different in patients who either underwent pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) or not in each respective group. Conclusion RP alone is an effective treatment in the majority of patients with HRPC and PLND did not affect the progression rates after RP. According to the number of preoperative high-risk features, as the number of risk factors increases, there is a need for additional treatment.

Abstract Purpose: To compare the functional outcomes of patients who underwent partial (PN) or radical nephrectomy (RN) for clinical T1 (cT1) renal tumors using the Kidney Cancer Database of the Urooncology Association, Turkey. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 1004 patients who underwent PN and RN for cT1 renal tumors at multiple academic tertiary centers between 2000 and 2018. Patients with preoperative end-stage chronic kidney disease and/or metastatic disease were excluded. Results: There were 452 patients in the PN group and 552 patients in the RN group. The eGFR was significantly reduced in both groups on postoperative day one (PN=13.7 vs. RN=19.1 ml/min/1.73 m2: p<0.001). In the PN group, eGFR showed a tendency to recover according to a quadratic pattern and reached preoperative levels in the first and third years (95.6±28.8 ml/min/1.73 m2 and 96.9±28.9 ml/min/1.73 m2, respectively), with no significant difference between the eGFRs in the 1st and 3rd years (p=0.710). To define groups at risk, different cut-off values for the GFR were considered. Among patients with a baseline GFR<90, the RN cohort had significantly lower eGFRs in the first and third years than the PN cohort (p=0.02). Logistic regression showed that comorbidities, coronary artery disease, diabetes and hypertension had no adverse impacts on the changes in the eGFR (p=0.60, p=0.13, and p=0.13, respectively). Conclusion: For the treatment of stage T1 kidney tumors, the first choice should be open or laparoscopic partial nephrectomy due to the superior long-term preservation of renal function and overall survival, regardless of age and comorbidities.

Aim: To evaluate the accuracy in histologic grading of MRI/US image fusion biopsy by comparing conventional 12-core TRUS-Bx at radical prostatectomy specimens (RP). Methods: Consecutive patients diagnosed prostate cancer (127 with combination of both targeted biopsy (TBx) plus systematic biopsies (SBx) and separate patient cohort of 330 conventional TRUS-Bx without mpMRI) with a PSA level of <20 ng/ml prior to RP were included. The primary end point was the grade group concordance between biopsy and RP pathology according to biopsy technique. Results: Clinically significant prostate cancer detection was 51.2 % for TRUS-Bx, 49.5 % for SBx, 67% for TBx and 75.7% for TBx+SBx . Upgrading and downgrading of at least one Gleason Grade Group (GGG) was recorded in 43.3% / 6.7% patients of the TRUS-Bx, and in 20.5% / 22 % of the TBX+SBx group, respectively (all p<0.001). Concordance level was detected to be significantly higher for ISUP 1 in combined TBx + SBx method compared to conventional TRUS-Bx (61.3% vs 37.9%, p=0.014). In ISUP 1 exclusively, significant upgrading was seen in TRUS-Bx (62.1%) when compared to TBx (41.4%) and TBx+SBx (38.7%). Conclusions: MRI-targeted biopsies detected more significant PCa than TRUS-Bx but, superiority in significant cancer detection appears as a result of inadvertant selective sampling of small higher grade areas. within an otherwise low grade cancer and does not reflect accurate GGG final surgical pathology. TBx+SBx has the greatest concordance in ISUP Grade 1 with less upgrading which is utmost important for active surveillance.

Objective: To present a nation-wide analysis of the workload of urology departments in Turkey week-by-week during Covid-19 pandemic. Methodology: The centers participating in the study were divided into three groups as tertiary referral centers, state hospitals and private practice hospitals. The number of outpatients, inpatients, daily interventions and urological surgeries were recorded prospectively between 9-March-2020 and 31-May-2020. All these variables were recorded for the same time interval of 2019 as well. The weekly change of the workload of urology during pandemic period was evaluated; also the workload of urology and the distributions of certain urological surgeries were compared between the pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019. Results: A total of 51 centers participated in the study. The number of outpatients, inpatients, urological surgeries and daily interventions were found to be dramatically decreased by the third week of pandemics in state hospitals and tertiary referral centers; however the daily urological practice were similar in private practice hospitals throughout the pandemic period. When the workload of urology in pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019 were compared; a huge decrease was observed in all variables during pandemic period. However, temporary measures like ureteral stenting, nephrostomy placement and percutaneous cystostomy have been found to increase during Covid-19 pandemic compared to normal life. Conclusions: Covid-19 pandemic significantly effected the routine daily urological practice likewise other subspecialties and priority was given to emergent and non-deferrable surgeries by urologists in concordance with published clinical guidelines.

Aim: To evaluate risk factors associated with nocturia in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Materials and Methods: Patients diagnosed with OSAS by polysomnography (PSG) and over eighteen years old evaluated retrospectively between January and December 2019. The number of nocturia episodes was assessed in the 3-day bladder diary. We analyzed age, gender, body mass index (BMI), apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) scores and severity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking, heart diseases in all patients. Results: A total of 124 patients with the mean age of 49.9±11.6 years (range 25–81 years) was included in the study. Ninety-two (75.8%) patients had nocturia. The mean nocturia episode of patients with nocturia was 2.41.3. To determine the factors that affect the risk of nocturia, logistic regression analysis was performed. The results revealed that patient age and BMI were found as the most effective risk factors determining nocturia (p<0.05). The odds of patient age were 1.06 (95% CI 1.01-1.11, p=0.010) times higher for patients with nocturia. Every 1 unit increase in BMI increased the risk of nocturia by 1.12. 48 patients with nocturia underwent continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy or surgical treatment. The mean nocturia epi¬sodes of these patients were 2.3±1.4 before treatment and were 1.7±2.2 after treatment. There was a significant decrease in terms of nocturia episodes (p=0.032). Although there was a significant increase in the total daily urine volume after treatment, there was a statistically decrease in total night-time urine volume at night (p=0.016 and p=0.024, respectively). Conclusion Age and BMI were risk factors associated with nocturia in patients with OSAS.

Aim: The cognate receptor expression of AGE (RAGE; receptor for AGE) on malignant tissues in diabetic patients has been suggested as a co-factor in determining the clinical course and prognosis. We aimed to search this relationship between RAGE expression and clinicopathological features of prostate neoplasia. Methods: A total of 197 patients; 64 (diabetic n=24; non-diabetic n=40) with benign prostate hyperplasia, and 133 (diabetic n=71; non-diabetic n=62) with localized (LPCa)/metastatic prostate cancer (MetPCa) were included the study. The expression of RAGE was studied by immunohistochemically on prostate specimens. The RAGE score was assessed in the specimens according to the extent of immunoreactivity and staining intensity. Results: The RAGE scores of BPH patients (diabetic and non-diabetic) were found as negative. Patients with both LPCa and MetPCa showed significantly higher scores, respectively (LPCa and MetPCa vs. BPH; p<0.01). RAGE scores of diabetic patients with LPCa and MetPCa were found to be 4.71±3.14 and 4.97±3.69, respectively. RAGE scores of the non-diabetic patients who had LPCa and MetPCa were 1.52±1.87 and 1.69±1.58, respectively. When compared both groups with LPCa, RAGE scores of the diabetic patients were significantly higher than that of the non-diabetics (p=0.01). Similar results were revealed as for the patients with MetPCa (4.97±3.69 vs. 1.69±1.58 (diabetic vs. non-diabetic), respectively (p<0.01). Conclusion: We found a high rate of RAGE expression in malign prostate neoplasias to the BPH. Furthermore, as expected, higher scores were demonstrated in those with diabetes than non-diabetics. Disease progression and survival parameters were worse in the patients with high RAGE levels. RAGE may be useful in the diagnosis of prostate cancer and in determining its prognosis.

Objectives: There is no standardized and up-to-date education model for urology residents in our country. We aimed to describe our National E learning education model for urology residents. Methodology: The ERTP working group; consisting of urologists was established by Society of Urological Surgery to create E-learning model and curriculum at April 2018. Learning objectives were set up in order to determine and standardize the contents of the presentations. In accordance with the Bloom Taxonomy, 834 learning objectives were created for a total of 90 lectures (18 lectures for each PGY year). Totally 90 videos were shoot by specialized instructors and webcasts were prepared. Webcasts were posted at uropedia.com.tr, which is the web library of Society of Urological Surgery. Satisfaction of residents and instructors was evaluated with feedbacks. An assessment of knowledge was measured with multiple-choice exam. Results: A total of 43 centers and 250 urology residents were included in ERTP during the academic year 2018/2019. There were 93/38/43/34/25 urology residents at 1st/2nd/3rd/4th and 5th year of residency, respectively. Majority of the residents (99.1%) completed the ERTP. The overall satisfaction rate of residents and instructors were 4,29 and 4,67(min:1 so bad, max:5 so good). An assessment exam was performed to urology residents at the end of the ERTP and the mean score was calculated as 57.99 points (min:20, max:82). Conclusion: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the educational programs had to move online platforms. We used this reliable and easily accessible e-learning platform for standardization of training in urology on national basis. We aim to share this model with international residency training programs.