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AIM: Recurrence of immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy (IgAN) after renal transplantation is important as a cause of graft failure under improving rejection control. However, no specific therapy for recurrent IgAN is currently available. In this study, we evaluated the histological efficacy of tonsillectomy for allograft IgAN. METHODS: Fifteen kidney recipients (male 9, female 6, mean age 40.9 ± 9.3 years), who received a diagnosis of IgA nephropathy by allograft biopsy, were enrolled in this study. Tonsillectomy was performed 44.1 ± 27.1 months after the kidney transplantation. All patients underwent a repeat graft biopsy at 23.8 ± 15.8 months after tonsillectomy. RESULTS: Six patients had microhematuria before tonsillectomy. At 12 months after treatment, the microhematuria disappeared in five of these patients and one patient had mild hematuria. Three patients had severe proteinuria (more than 1.0 g/gCr) before tonsillectomy and improved after treatment. On histological analysis, four patients had acute lesions including cellular or fibrocellular crescents. The acute lesions disappeared after these treatments in all patients. Eleven patients had chronic lesions including global sclerosis, segmental sclerosis and fibrous crescents. The chronic lesion was ameliorated in six patients, unchanged in three and deteriorated in two patients. CONCLUSIONS: Tonsillectomy improves not only clinical findings but also ameliorates histological damage caused by recurrent IgAN after kidney transplantation. Tonsillectomy is a novel and effective treatment for recurrent IgAN.

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INTRODUCTION: Nephron-sparing surgery (NSS) has become the standard treatment for small renal cell carcinoma because of its comparable oncological outcome and superior patient survival compared to total nephrectomy. However, the precise chronological course of recovery from initial kidney damage and the factors responsible for it remain unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-one patients who underwent NSS were enrolled. To elucidate the chronological changes in kidney function that occur after NSS, the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated at different two points, the early (7 days after surgery) and late time points (more than 12 months after surgery), and compared with the preoperative eGFR. Perioperative factors were applied to a multivariate regression model to investigate the factors that most affect patient recovery from nephron damage. RESULTS: eGFR was decreased at the early time point but had partially recovered at the late time point. Male gender, ischemic time, and tumor size were found to be significant predictors of the initial drop in eGFR. The only significant factor that prevented later functional recovery was the presence of DM. CONCLUSION: Several perioperative factors significantly influence early kidney damage; however, the presence of DM is the only factor affecting the risk of long-term chronic kidney damage.

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UNLABELLED: What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Radical cystectomy remains associated with comparatively high perioperative morbidity and mortality, despite improvements in surgical techniques and perioperative care. At present, most studies on the complications associated with open radical cystectomy were derived from Western academic high-volume centres, and data from Japan and other Asian countries were very limited. Using the modified Clavien grading system and 11 category grouping reported from MSKCC, we observed that 68% of patients experienced at least one complication within 90 days of surgery, and 17% of patients experienced major complications (90-day mortality rate = 2%), which were compatible with reports from Western high-volume centres. As far as we know, our report is the largest one regarding perioperative morbidity and mortality in Asian patients who underwent radical cystectomy. OBJECTIVE: To determine the type, incidence and severity of 90-day morbidity after radical cystectomy in our institution and our affiliated hospitals in accordance with a standard reporting methodology. At present, most studies on complications associated with open radical cystectomy are derived from Western academic high-volume centres and data from Japan and other Asian countries remain very limited. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study comprised a retrospective multi-institutional study. The records were reviewed of 928 patients who underwent open radical cystectomy between 1997 and 2010. All complications within 90 days of surgery were categorized into 11 specific categories and graded in accordance with the modified Clavien system. Multivariate regression models were used to determine predictors of complications. RESULTS: At least one complication was observed in 635 (68%) patients and a major (grade 3-5) complication was observed in 156 (17%) patients. The most common complication categories were infectious (30%), gastrointestinal (26%), wound-related (21%) and genitourinary (15%). The 30-day mortality rate was 0.8% and the 90-day mortality rate was 2%. A multivariate regression model showed that previous cardiovascular comorbidity and type of urinary diversion (i.e. ileal conduit or neobladder) were significant factors for any and major complications. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical complication-related radical cystectomy is significant and both previous cardiovascular comorbidity and the type of urinary diversion were found to be significant factors for any and major complications. The 90-day mortality rate was 2%, which is compatible with reports from Western high-volume centres.

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Granulomatous interstitial nephritis (GIN) is a rare histologic diagnosis in renal allografts. We report three cases with GIN. Case 1: a 37-yr-old woman received a kidney from her mother. On follow-up 15 months later, serum creatinine was increased and a graft biopsy showed epithelioid granuloma in the center of massive mononuclear cell infiltration. She had presented with refractory urinary tract infection treated with antibiotics before biopsy. The case was presumed to be GIN associated with UTI or hypersensitivity to medication. Case 2: a 47-yr-old woman received a second graft from a non-heart-beating donor. A protocol graft biopsy was performed six months after transplantation and showed several granulomatous nodules. She was followed closely without therapy. Case 3: a 27-yr-old woman received an ABO-incompatible kidney from her father. A protocol graft biopsy was performed three months after transplantation and showed granulomatous reaction with severe mononuclear cell infiltration. She received steroid pulse therapy. The two latter patients had no obvious factor contributing to GIN. Therefore, they were presumed to have idiopathic GIN. Infection is considered to be the main causative factor of GIN in renal allografts. This paper describes rare cases of GIN that had no infectious episode in the renal allografts.

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BACKGROUND: Conditions associated with high intraglomerular filtration pressure can cause secondary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Unilateral renal artery stenosis (RAS) or its occlusion results in FSGS-like changes and the nephrotic syndrome in the contralateral kidney due to hyperfiltration. However, it has been rarely reported that stenosis of a renal arterial branch can result in FSGS-like changes in a different portion in the same kidney allograft. CASE PRESENTATION: A 60-year-old male kidney recipient developed allograft dysfunction after angiotensin II receptor blockade for hypertension 4 months after transplantation. It was proven that one of two arterial branches of the graft was markedly stenotic. Graft dysfunction improved after percutaneous transluminal arterioplasty (PTA), however; the stenosis recurred and massive proteinuria developed 5 months later. Graft biopsy showed ischemic changes in the region fed by the stenotic artery branch and in contrast FSGS-like changes in the region fed by the other branch. His clinicopathological manifestation including massive proteinuria almost normalized after the repeat PTA. CONCLUSION: Here we report a case of secondary FSGS of a kidney allograft due to severe RAS of a branch of the same kidney, in which clinical and pathological improvement were confirmed after radiological intervention. When moderate to severe proteinuria appear, secondarily developed FSGS as well as primary (recurrent or de novo) FSGS should be taken into account in kidney transplant recipients.

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A 32-yr-old female patient, who had been suffering from diffuse crescentic glomerulonephritis and a consequent end-stage renal disease, successfully underwent living-related ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation after a desensitization therapy including anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody. Forty-six months after the transplantation, the recipient became pregnant. At the 17th gestational week, the patient was admitted for the management of pregnancy-induced hypertension and aggressive deterioration of kidney graft function. At the 21st gestational week, the patient lost her kidney graft and was re-induced into regular hemodialysis. The patient was also suffering from progressive hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and neurologic symptoms with decreased activity of von Willebrand factor-cleaving protease, a disintegrin-like and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type 1 motifs 13 (ADAMTS13). From these findings and a kidney allograft biopsy, the patient was diagnosed as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura concurrent with acute T-cell-mediated rejection. The patient immediately underwent plasma exchange as well as steroid pulse therapy. Despite these treatments, thrombocytopenia and intrauterine growth retardation progressed. The patient underwent a caesarian section at the 24th gestational week. Consequently, her platelet count recovered drastically. However, the patient lost her neonate five d after giving a birth, and the patient's graft function had never recovered.

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PURPOSE: We determined whether diagnostic ureteroscopy for upper urinary tract cancer affects intravesical recurrence and cancer specific mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a retrospective, multi-institutional study we evaluated 208 patients undergoing nephroureterectomy for upper urinary tract cancer who had no perioperative systemic chemotherapy, history of invasive bladder cancer, distant metastasis or incomplete followup data. Of these 208 patients 55 who composed the study group underwent diagnostic ureteroscopy before nephroureterectomy while 153 serving as controls did not. We analyzed intravesical recurrence and cancer specific survival using the Kaplan-Meier method with the log rank test used to assess significance. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in patient characteristics or upper urinary tract cancer stage and grade while followup, and the proportion of multiple tumors and lymphovascular invasion positive tumors were significantly greater in controls. The 2-year bladder recurrence-free survival rate was 60.0% in the study group and 58.7% in controls. There was no significant difference in the intravesical recurrence rate between the 2 groups (log rank test p = 0.972). Estimated Kaplan-Meier cancer specific survival was 88.3% and 78.1% at 5 years in the study and control groups, respectively (log rank test p = 0.0687). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic ureteroscopy did not affect intravesical recurrence or cancer specific survival in patients with upper urinary tract cancer undergoing nephroureterectomy.

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OBJECTIVES: To determine the pathological features and clinical course of intravesical recurrence after nephroureterectomy (NU) for upper urinary tract (UUT) cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Among 325 patients undergoing NU with bladder cuff excision for UUT cancer, in this retrospective multi-institutional study we evaluated 113 who developed bladder tumour after NU. Excluding patients with (i) perioperative systemic chemotherapy or radiotherapy for UUT cancer; (ii) a history of previous or synchronous bladder cancer at the time of NU; (iii) distant metastasis at the time of NU; (iv) a follow-up of <1 year after the initial bladder cancer recurrence; or (v) missing data, 74 patients were included in this study. We compared the pathology between UUT cancer and the first bladder cancer recurrence, using Fisher's exact test. Further intravesical recurrence and bladder cancer progression was analysed using the Kaplan-Meier method, with the log-rank test used to assess significance. A Cox proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The grade of the first bladder cancer recurrence strongly correlated with that of the UUT tumour (P < 0.001) and the carcinoma in situ (CIS) lesion with the first bladder cancer recurrence correlated with high grade (grade 3) UUT tumour (P < 0.001). In all, 56 of the assessable 70 patients further developed intravesical recurrence at a median interval of 7 months after the first bladder cancer recurrence. There were no clinicopathological factors that predicted the second recurrence. Progression occurred in 14 patients, at a median interval of 25 months. A CIS lesion with the first bladder cancer recurrence was a risk factor for progression on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: A large proportion of the patients who developed bladder tumour after NU had further intravesical recurrence, which indicated its refractory nature. Especially when a CIS lesion is detected in the initial intravesical recurrence, a careful follow-up is mandatory to detect bladder cancer progression.

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Japan A 56-yr-old Japanese male with a history of diabetic nephropathy underwent a HLA 5/6 mismatch and ABO-compatible living-related kidney transplantation (donor: his 49-yr-old wife). A pre-transplant standard NIH complement-dependent cytotoxicity cross-match (Xm) test, a flow-cytometric T-cell Xm, and a FlowPRA test were totally negative. Inductionimmunosuppressive protocol consisted of tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, methylprednisolone, and basiliximab (BAS). The patient's post-operative course was almost uneventful, and the graft was functioning well (sCr 1.1 mg/dL). He developed general fatigue, and his sCr was elevated to 2.2 mg/dL 792 d after transplant. A graft biopsy showed acute T-cell mediated rejection Banff grade IB (i3, t3, g0, v0, ptc0, C4d staining negative). The conventional anti-rejection therapy could not improve his graft function; therefore, we added BAS to eliminate activated graft-infiltrating T-cells. He responded to the rescue therapy, and the improvement in graft function was confirmed by a subsequent graft biopsy. He enjoyed his health without any opportunistic infections.

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OBJECTIVES: To determine the role of lymph-node (LN) dissection in patients undergoing surgery for upper urinary tract (UUT) cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed the clinicopathological data from 312 patients with UUT cancer treated predominantly by nephroureterectomy. The relationship between clinical characteristics and cancer-specific survival (CSS) was analysed, focusing on node-related information. RESULTS: In all, 166 patients had LN dissection while 146 did not (pNx). Multivariate analysis showed that T stage, grade and pN status were significant variables for CSS. The difference in survival between the pN0 and pNx groups remained significant in a multivariate analysis. The median (range) number of LNs removed was 6 (1-65). There was no significant difference in CSS between the 72 patients with fewer than six LNs removed and the 78 with six or more removed. CONCLUSIONS: LN dissection is important for postoperative stratification of patients with UUT cancer because node-positive disease was one of the variables with a significant adverse effect on survival. In addition, the significant difference in survival between the pN0 and pNx groups might indicate a therapeutic benefit of LN dissection, although removing more LNs did not uniformly increase the probability of CSS.

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Corticosteroid withdrawal (CSWD) protocols to minimize the risk of cardiovascular events after kidney transplantation have been reported. However, most of them were within one year post-transplant, and the pathological survey after CSWD was poorly done. We conducted the present retrospective study to elucidate the usefulness and safety of late-steroid withdrawal more than one year after transplantation in kidney recipients with pathological evaluation. Twenty kidney recipients with stable graft function more than one year post-transplant, and whose corticosteroid (CS) was withdrawn were enrolled in this study. The change in their clinical parameters of graft function (sCr and uP/Cr), metabolic profiles, and histological graft status (Banff 97 scoring system) were studied pre- and post-CSWD, and compared with a control cohort taking continuous CS. The dose of CS was tapered gradually and has been maintained with the minimal dose of CS (1.25-5 mg of prednisone) by three months after transplant. CS was furthermore reduced thereafter, if graft function had been stable more than one year and a patient wanted CS to be withdrawn, then a graft biopsy was undertaken. CSWD was accomplished between 16 and 195 (median 41.5) months post-transplant, if there was no significant histological graft damage or on-going acute rejection. A repeat biopsy was carried out two to 21 months after CSWD. In contrast, the observation point of the control cohort was 24 to 49 (median 36.5) months after transplant, and the second biopsy was done five to 30 months after the initial biopsy. The control cohort took 2.5 to 5 (median 2.5) mg of prednisone daily. There were no significant alterations of graft function between pre- and post-CSWD (sCr: 1.14 +/- 0.1 and 1.17 +/- 0.1 mg/dL, respectively, p = 0.3299, uP/Cr: 0.12 +/- 0.01 and 0.21 +/- 0.06, respectively, p = 0.0574). The hypertension rate between both groups was not different between double biopsy points. In addition the rates of glucose intolerance and hyperlipidemia were comparable between two points in both cohorts. There was no significant change in the acute/active lesion scoring (2 t1 and 3 i1 were only positive factors before CSWD and they all returned to t0 and i0 after CSWD). Moreover, chronic/sclerosing allograft nephropathy scorings were minimal and similar between pre- and post-CSWD compared with the control. CSWD for more than one year is safe for patients whose graft functions are stable with pathological confirmation; however, a longer follow-up study is warranted.

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The intravesical instillation of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a standard therapy for superficial bladder carcinoma. Tuberculosis-like inflammation in the genitourinary tract is a serious complication of BCG. It can occur after a long interval from the cessation of the intravesical BCG therapy. If inflammation occurs, it is necessary to test whether the BCG strain has caused it or another mycobacterium species has. However, there has never been a report that proves BCG causes the inflammation, because BCG is difficult to differentiate from other strains of Mycobacterium bovis and other members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex by conventional tests, including regular polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We first present a case of epididymo-orchitis, which developed 31 months after the cessation of BCG therapy, detected using a multiplex PCR method as having been caused by BCG. Our report illustrates the efficacy of this method to detect the responsible microbe that is thought to be transmitted from the instillated BCG strain.

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INTRODUCTION: Recent immunosuppression with tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil has improved the results of renal transplantation. In this study, we analyzed the effect and safety of basiliximab as an induction therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-nine kidney recipients were given tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil and prednisone (non-Bas group), and 31 recipients were given basiliximab as an induction therapy in addition to the triple immunosuppressants (Bas group). Graft function, incidence of acute rejection (AR), findings of protocol graft biopsy and adverse effects were compared. RESULTS: Serum creatinine within 1 yr post-transplant was comparable between the two groups. Incidence of biopsy-proven AR within 6 months post-transplant was less in the Bas group than in the non-Bas group. Borderline change at 3 months post-transplant was less in the Bas group when compared to the non-Bas group. The frequency and severity of tubulitis were higher in the non-Bas group than in the Bas group. The addition of basiliximab did not increase opportunistic infection, but reduced tacrolimus nephrotoxicity. CONCLUSION: The addition of basiliximab to the tacrolimus-based triple immunosuppressive regimen enabled us to reduce the doses of immunosuppressants and tacrolimus nephrotoxicity without increasing early rejection or infection. This regimen is safe and effective for application during the early period after renal transplantation.

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Intraperitoneal metastasis from a testicular germ cell tumor is very rare. We report a case in a 33-year-old man who was referred to Hokkaido University Hospital, Hokkaido, Japan, for further therapy for refractory seminoma. Physical examination revealed abdominal distension as a result of ascites, and cytology of the ascites showed seminoma cells. Although the ascites completely disappeared after treatment with a novel regimen of irinotecan-based chemotherapy, the patient had a recurrence of ascites and died of progressive disease 5 months after the start of the therapy.

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We experienced a case of squamous metaplasia mimicking papillary urothelial cell carcinoma in the upper urinary tract. A 69-year-old woman, who complained of gross hematuria and intermittent left flank dull pain underwent nephrectomy with the clinical diagnosis of papillary urothelial carcinomas in the left upper urinary tract according to positive split urine cytology and tumorous filling defects of contrast media by the abdominal CT scan. Pathological diagnosis was squamous metaplasia and concomitant foreign body granuloma. Those changes were judged due to a tiny calculus in the ureter. Our presented case implies that a tiny calculus can cause the metaplastic change in the urothelial epithelium and the combination of radiographical and cytological diagnoses would not be enough to lead the correct diagnosis and the definitive surgical treatment against protruding lesions in the upper urinary tract requires more reliable diagnostic modalities.

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