Predictive role of preoperative hydronephrosis on poor pathological outcomes and prognosis in upper tract urothelial carcinoma patients: Experience from a nationwide high-volume center in China.

To validate the predictive value of preoperative hydronephrosis (HN) with regard to clinicopathological outcome and prognosis in a large cohort of upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) patients, a retrospective analysis was conducted using the clinicopathological data of 520 consecutive patients treated between 2000 and 2010 at a nationwide high-volume center in China. Preoperative computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scans were evaluated for the presence of ipsilateral HN, and the associations between HN and pathological outcomes, patient survival and urinary tract recurrences were assessed. Ipsilateral HN was present in 271 patients (52.1%). Preoperative HN was associated with advanced age (P=0.007), sessile tumor architecture (P<0.001), ureteral location (P<0.001), higher tumor stage (P<0.001) and higher histological grade (P=0.002). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that poorer cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) times were correlated with preoperative HN (P=0.004 and P=0.009, respectively). The 5-year CSS and OS rates for patients with HN were 86.9 and 86.2%, respectively, compared to 93.3 and 91.9% for patients without HN. For patients with muscle-invasive disease, HN remained a risk factor for poor CSS and OS (P=0.009 and P=0.012, respectively). No association was identified between HN and bladder recurrence (P=0.552) or the development of contralateral upper tract carcinoma (P=0.164). The findings indicated that preoperative HN is prevalent in UTUC. The presence of preoperative HN predicted poorer pathological outcomes and was a significant risk factor affecting survival. The evaluation of HN may be informative for decisions concerning surgical options, and the presence of HN should raise the possibility of employing an aggressive treatment approach.