Survival differences of patients with ureteral versus pelvicalyceal tumours: a systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION: Worse survival in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) in the presence of a tumour in the ureter vs. pelvicalyceal tumours is reported in some studies; however, the definition of ureteral involvement (UI) varies across studies. We systematically evaluated evidence regarding the prognostic role of UI in overall and cancer-specific survival of patients with UTUC. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Knowledge was performed in March 2018. RESULTS: The results were presented as a comparison between ureteral vs. pelvicalyceal tumours. A total of 14,895 patients were identified. Cumulative analyses indicated that UI worsens cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS), with a pooled HR of 1.52 (p < 0.001) and 1.39 (p = 0.004), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis identified UI in UTUC as an adverse prognostic factor.