Nevertheless, the

force majeure circumstances did not cause any major changes in the congress program and the vast majority of the 1104 abstracts and 50 videos were finally presented. Regarding urothelial carcinoma of the bladder, a large array of posters and videos were presented. Major topics included basic research, prognostic factors, and outcome, as well as management of muscle- and non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Moreover, important new findings in prostate cancer (PCa) were presented on basic research, diagnosis, prostate biopsy, radical prostatectomy, and postoperative complications. Bladder Cancer Basic Research Arentsen and colleagues1 presented a promising novel agent for the treatment of bladder Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical cancer (BCa). Cisurocanic acid

(cis-UCA) is a natural compound Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical found in the mammalian skin after ultraviolet irradiation. It showed a clear dose-dependent antiproliferative activity against raturothelial cancer cell lines (AY-27) in vitro, as well as inhibitory effects on tumor growth in the orthotopic rat BCa model in vivo. Considering the good side-effect profile of cis-UCA, it may play a role as an intravesical agent in the future. Due Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to high rates of recurrence and progression of non-muscle-invasive BCa, its treatment still remains controversial. Cao and associates2 evaluated the synergistic antitumoral effects of interleukin (IL)-12 gene therapy and combined chemotherapy with pirarubicin (THP). BCa cells were cultured and transfected Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with recombinant plasmid encoding IL-12 genes. Their study showed significantly higher cell death rates in vitro in the group that had been treated with a combination of both therapies. In vivo, a significant decrease in tumor size was achieved by using THP in combination

with IL-12 gene therapy. Although further investigation is needed, the additive effect of this novel treatment modality seems to be a promising approach. Kobavashi and colleagues3 assessed the feasibility of diffusion-weighted Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) in the diagnosis of BCa. The same study group received third place this year for the best abstract in oncology,4 honoring their findings in upper urinary tract tumors using the same technique. Regarding BCa, their study compared the diagnostic performance of the DWI with T2-weighted imaging (T2W), which is probably the most accurate imaging modality in detecting BCa. Using a 1.5-T magnetic resonance, not requiring any contrast agents, the sensitivity of DWI Mannose-binding protein-associated serine protease was 95%/94%. In the detection of muscleinvasive disease, the sensitivity was 100%/100%, compared with 93%/88% and 100%/96% using T2W, respectively. Therefore, the authors concluded that DWI offers a higher objectivity in detecting BCa lesions. Prognostic Factors and Selleck CT99021 outcome Seiler and colleagues5 evaluated the prognostic value of extracapsular extension (ECE) of lymph node metastasis, critically analyzing the total diameter of all metastases as a potential independent risk factor.