title: Survival analysis in patients with upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma: a comparison between open and hand-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the stage- and grade-specific survival rate in patients with upper urinary tract (UUT) transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) after open (ONU) or hand-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy (LNU) with bladder-cuff excision.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 1998 to April 2005, 143 patients with UUT-TCC were treated with either ONU or LNU and enrolled in the study. The peri-operative data were collected by retrospective chart review. The recurrence, metastasis and survival rate were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 5-year disease-specific survival of patients with pT1 disease was 88.1% after ONU and 92.0% after LNU (P = 0.745); the respective values for patients with pT2 were 11/17 and 12/15 (P = 0.874), and for pT3 were six/11 and 12/15 (P = 0.476). The incidence of bladder recurrence within 2 years after surgery was 24.7% for ONU and 19.7% for LNU (P = 0.475).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results were similar after ONU or LNU with bladder-cuff excision; bladder-cuff excision using a hand-assisted device is effective and serves as a treatment option for patients with UUT-TCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology at Taipei City Hospital, Zhongxiao branch, and National Yang-Ming University, School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Thomas Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Hsueh
authors.forename: Yi-Hsiu
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Allen W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Steven K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Huan
authors.forename: Ying-Huei
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000401:mortality / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014513:Ureter / Q000601:surgery*; D014571:Urologic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*