OBJECTIVE: To assess the prognostic value of the percentage of positive fragments (PPF) in biopsies from patients with localized prostate cancer (PCa) undergoing radical prostatectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During the period from March 1991 to November 2000, 440 patients were selected. Cases receiving neoadjuvant or adjuvant hormone therapy, or adjuvant radiotherapy, were excluded, as were cases presenting Gleason scores higher than 6 at biopsy. PPF was defined as the total number of fragments divided by the total number of biopsy fragments times 100. This variable was initially divided into categories from 0 to 25%, 25.1% to 50%, 50.1 to 75% and 75% to 100%. During the postoperative period, patients were assessed every 2 months for 1 year, then every 6 months for 5 years, and then yearly. Biochemical recurrence was defined as serum PSA higher than or equal to 0.4 ng/mL. Median follow-up was 60 months. RESULTS: One hundred and nine (24.8%) of the 440 patients under study had biochemical recurrence. In the univariate analysis, PPF significantly influenced disease-free survival (log-rank, p < 0.001), and patients with PPF between 75 and 100% presented a risk of a biochemical recurrence of the disease 3 times higher than patients with PPF between 0 and 25% (p < 0.001). After the Cox regression analysis, both serum PSA (p = 0.001) and PPF (p < 0.001) showed to be independent predictive factors for disease-free survival following surgery. CONCLUSION: PPF measurement in biopsy is a simple and practical method, which should be routinely used as a predictive factor for biochemical recurrence in patients with PCa presenting Gleason scores between 2 and 6.

INTRODUCTION: Renal cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid differentiation is a tumor with aggressive behavior that is poorly responsive to immunotherapy. The objective of this study is to report our experience in the treatment of 15 patients with this tumor. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 15 consecutive cases of renal cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid differentiation diagnosed between 1991 and 2003. The clinical presentation and the pathological stage were assessed, as were the tumor's pathological features, use of adjuvant immunotherapy and survival. The study's primary end-point was to assess survival of these individuals. RESULTS: The sample included 8 women and 7 men with mean age of 63 years (44 - 80); follow-up ranged from 1 to 100 months (mean 34). Upon presentation, 87% were symptomatic and 4 individuals had metastatic disease. Mean tumor size was 9.5 cm (4 - 24) with the following pathological stages: 7% pT1, 7% pT2, 33% pT3, and 53% pT4. The pathological features showed high-grade tumors with tumoral necrosis in 87% of the lesions and 80% of intratumoral microvascular invasion. Disease-free and cancer-specific survival rates were 40 and 46% respectively, with 2 cases responding to adjuvant immunotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with sarcomatoid tumors of the kidney have a low life expectancy, and sometimes surgical resection associated with immunotherapy can lead to a long-lasting therapeutic response.

OBJECTIVE: To determine through preoperative serum PSA level, Gleason score on biopsy and percentage of fragments affected by tumor on biopsy, the probability of involvement of the seminal vesicles. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During the period between March 1991 to December 2002, we selected 899 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy for treatment of localized prostate adenocarcinoma. The analyzed preoperative variables were PSA, percentage of positive fragments and Gleason score on the biopsy. Pre-operative PSA was divided in scales from 0 to 4.0 ng/mL, 4.1 to 10 ng/mL, 10.1 to 20 ng/mL and > 20 ng/mL, Gleason score was categorized in scales from 2 to 6. 7 and 8 to 10, and the percentage of affected fragments was divided in 0 to 25%, 25.1% to 50%, 50.1% to 75%, and 75.1% to 100%. All these variables were correlated with the involvement of seminal vesicles in the surgical specimen. RESULTS: Of the 899 patients under study, approximately 11% (95% CI, [9% - 13%]) had involvement of seminal vesicles. On the multivariate analysis, when PSA was < 4, the Gleason score was 2 to 6, and less than 25% of fragments were involved on the biopsy, only 3.6%, 7.6% and 6.2% of patients respectively, had involvement of seminal vesicles. On the multivariate analysis, we observed that PSA, Gleason score and the percentage of involved fragments were independent prognostic factors for invasion of seminal vesicles. CONCLUSION: The preoperative variables used in the present study allow the identification of men with minimal risk (lower than 5%) if involvement of seminal vesicles.