While UTUC is relatively uncommon, it has an aggressive natural history and poor prognosis, which has not substantially improved over the past two decades.
Nevertheless, continued research has led to the discovery of risk factors improving the prevention and early detection of UTUC. Although RNU remains the standard treatment for localized invasive UTUC, nephron-sparing surgery for selected patients has made considerable progress in the recent years. The stagnation in the prognosis of UTUC over the past two decades highlights the necessity for incorporating multimodal approaches including refinements in systemic chemotherapy and radiotherapy to attain better outcomes for patients with UTUC.
Written by:
Lucca I, Leow JJ, Shariat SF, Chang SL. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna General Hospital, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Vienna A-1090, Austria; Department of Urology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Rue du Bugnon 46, Lausanne 1011, Switzerland; Department of Urology, Bladder Cancer Center, Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, 450 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Division of Urology, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 1801 Inwood Rd, Dallas, TX 75235, USA; Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Reference: Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2015 Apr;29(2):271-288.
doi: 10.1016/j.hoc.2014.10.003
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25836934