Background: An accurate prediction of progression is critical to define the management of bladder cancer (BC). The ectonucleotidases CD39 and CD73 play strategic roles in calibrating purinergic signals via an extracellular balance between ATP and adenosine. The altered expression of these enzymes plays a potential role in tumor invasion and metastasis, therefore, has been proposed to be used for prognosis of solid tumor. In BC this is not yet clear. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate CD39 and CD73 expression in a cohort of patients with non-muscle-invasive (NMI) and muscle-invasive (MI) BC regard to its association with clinicopathological features. Materials and Methods: Retrospective clinical follow-up data and primary urothelial BC specimens of 162 patients were used (87 from patients who underwent transurethral resection and 75 from cystectomized patients). Tissue microarrays were constructed, and immunohistochemistry for CD39 and CD73 was performed to make associations with clinicopathological data. Results: Overall, 96 were NMI (59.3%) and 66 MI (40.7%). CD39 immunoreactivity in BC cells was found in 72% of the cases, while CD73 was found in 97%. High CD39 expression alone was more frequent in NMI BC (p < 0.001), while CD73 expression was not powerful to predict the stage of BC. The association of both markers confirmed that only CD39 has potential in BC prognosis. Conclusions: The altered expression of CD39 presented herein supports the idea that this ectonucleotidase may be involved in bladder tumorigenesis. High expression of CD39 in tumor cells is correlated with the early stage of BC.
Background. Although relatively rare, vesicovaginal fistula is the most common genitourinary fistula, causing a significant decrease in patients’ quality of life. Location of fistula is major supratrigonal, with some cases located in the trigone and rarely below it. Disease treatment is surgical, and repair can be performed by several techniques, including robot-assisted. Case Presentation. We present a case of a patient who developed an infratrigonal vesicovaginal fistula after treatment of a cervical cancer. The patient was submitted to robotic repair of the vesicovaginal fistula. Conclusion. The use of robot-assisted laparoscopy is expanding over all areas of urology and its applicability to repair vesicovaginal fistulas brings good results.
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