Objective:To investigate the therapeutic outcomes of patients with horseshoe kidney and hydronephrosis under different surgical approaches and with or without isthmus division.Methods:This study is a retrospective case series research. A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 23 patients with horseshoe kidney and hydronephrosis who underwent pyeloplasty at the Department of Urology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2016 to December 2023. Among them, there were 11 males and 12 females, with an age of (33±15) years (range:7 to 64 years). Patients underwent preoperative examinations, including ultrasonography of the urinary system, intravenous urography, CT urography, or magnetic resonance urography. Retrograde urography or antegrade ureteropyelography was performed when necessary to clarify the degree of hydronephrosis, the location and length of ureteral stricture. For patients with severe hydronephrosis, a ureteral stricture segment >2 cm, a thick renal isthmus in horseshoe kidney, and markedly variant vasculature, open surgery or robotic surgery is preferred. For those with mild to moderate hydronephrosis, a ureteral stricture segment <2 cm, a thin renal isthmus in horseshoe kidney, and no significant vascular variations, laparoscopic surgery is the first choice. The decision to perform isthmectomy should be made based on a comprehensive intraoperative assessment, including the vascular supply to the isthmus, the degree of surrounding adhesions, and the thickness of the isthmus. Perioperative parameters and complications were recorded and analyzed, and regular follow-up was conducted for all patients.Results:All surgeries were successfully completed. Surgical approaches included open surgery in 4 cases, laparoscopic surgery in 14 cases, and robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery in 5 cases. The operative time for open surgery, laparoscopic surgery and robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery was (125±12) minutes (range: 112 to 141 minutes), (122±50) minutes (range: 60 to 233 minutes), and (130±36) minutes (range: 76 to 174 minutes), respectively. The blood loss ( M(IQR)) was 100 (25) ml (range: 50 to 100 mL) for open surgery, 35 (30) ml (range: 10 to 100 mL) for laparoscopic surgery, and 20 (10) ml (range: 20 to 50 ml) for robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. Among 15 patients who underwent isthmus division with pyeloplasty (division group), the operation time was (138±42) minutes (range: 73 to 233 minutes), with blood loss of 50 (80) ml (range: 20 to 100 ml). For 8 patients in the non-division group who only underwent pyeloureteroplasty, the operation time was (98±27) minutes (range: 60 to 135 minutes), with blood loss of 20 (50) ml (range: 10 to 100 ml). The follow-up time of patients after surgery was 16.0 (49.0) months (range: 1.7 to 84.2 months), with a surgical success rate of 100%. Among the 8 patients in the non-division group, all demonstrated significant improvement in hydronephrosis severity compared to preoperative conditions. Notably, 6 patients who previously experienced frequent lower back pain showed no recurrence of symptoms after ureteral stent removal. In the division group of 15 patients, both subjective symptoms and hydronephrosis severity were markedly reduced. Conclusion:For patients with horseshoe kidney and hydronephrosis, the choice of surgical approach and isthmus management strategy should be determined based on a comprehensive consideration of the etiology of hydronephrosis, the degree of ureteral stricture, anatomical abnormalities, and vascular variations.

Objective:To investigate the therapeutic outcomes of patients with horseshoe kidney and hydronephrosis under different surgical approaches and with or without isthmus division.Methods:This study is a retrospective case series research. A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 23 patients with horseshoe kidney and hydronephrosis who underwent pyeloplasty at the Department of Urology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2016 to December 2023. Among them, there were 11 males and 12 females, with an age of (33±15) years (range:7 to 64 years). Patients underwent preoperative examinations, including ultrasonography of the urinary system, intravenous urography, CT urography, or magnetic resonance urography. Retrograde urography or antegrade ureteropyelography was performed when necessary to clarify the degree of hydronephrosis, the location and length of ureteral stricture. For patients with severe hydronephrosis, a ureteral stricture segment >2 cm, a thick renal isthmus in horseshoe kidney, and markedly variant vasculature, open surgery or robotic surgery is preferred. For those with mild to moderate hydronephrosis, a ureteral stricture segment <2 cm, a thin renal isthmus in horseshoe kidney, and no significant vascular variations, laparoscopic surgery is the first choice. The decision to perform isthmectomy should be made based on a comprehensive intraoperative assessment, including the vascular supply to the isthmus, the degree of surrounding adhesions, and the thickness of the isthmus. Perioperative parameters and complications were recorded and analyzed, and regular follow-up was conducted for all patients.Results:All surgeries were successfully completed. Surgical approaches included open surgery in 4 cases, laparoscopic surgery in 14 cases, and robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery in 5 cases. The operative time for open surgery, laparoscopic surgery and robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery was (125±12) minutes (range: 112 to 141 minutes), (122±50) minutes (range: 60 to 233 minutes), and (130±36) minutes (range: 76 to 174 minutes), respectively. The blood loss ( M(IQR)) was 100 (25) ml (range: 50 to 100 mL) for open surgery, 35 (30) ml (range: 10 to 100 mL) for laparoscopic surgery, and 20 (10) ml (range: 20 to 50 ml) for robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. Among 15 patients who underwent isthmus division with pyeloplasty (division group), the operation time was (138±42) minutes (range: 73 to 233 minutes), with blood loss of 50 (80) ml (range: 20 to 100 ml). For 8 patients in the non-division group who only underwent pyeloureteroplasty, the operation time was (98±27) minutes (range: 60 to 135 minutes), with blood loss of 20 (50) ml (range: 10 to 100 ml). The follow-up time of patients after surgery was 16.0 (49.0) months (range: 1.7 to 84.2 months), with a surgical success rate of 100%. Among the 8 patients in the non-division group, all demonstrated significant improvement in hydronephrosis severity compared to preoperative conditions. Notably, 6 patients who previously experienced frequent lower back pain showed no recurrence of symptoms after ureteral stent removal. In the division group of 15 patients, both subjective symptoms and hydronephrosis severity were markedly reduced. Conclusion:For patients with horseshoe kidney and hydronephrosis, the choice of surgical approach and isthmus management strategy should be determined based on a comprehensive consideration of the etiology of hydronephrosis, the degree of ureteral stricture, anatomical abnormalities, and vascular variations.

Objective:To investigate the incidence and risk factors of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) reactivation in immunocompetent severe pneumonia patients with mechanical ventilation and their effects on clinical outcomes.Methods:A prospective observational study was conducted. Forty-eight immunocompetent patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation due to severe pneumonia in the department of critical care medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University from June 30th, 2017 to July 1st, 2018 were enrolled. Meanwhile, all cases were followed up until 90 days after inclusion and were required to quantitatively detect HCMV DNA in serum at regular weekly intervals until 28 days after transferring to intensive care unit (ICU). Patients were divided into HCMV reactivation group (≥5×10 5 copies/L) and non-reactivation group (<5×10 5 copies/L) based on HCMV DNA at any time point within 28 days. Demographic data, basic indicators, respiratory indicators, disease severity scores, laboratory indicators, complication and clinical outcomes of the two groups were collected and analyzed. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was performed to screen independent risk factors for HCMV reactivation. Results:All 48 subjects were tested positive for HCMV immunoglobulin G (IgG), so HCMV seropositive rate was 100%. HCMV reactivation occurred in 10 patients within 28 days after admission to ICU, and the reactivation incidence of HCMV was 20.83%. There was no significant difference in gender, age, body mass index (BMI), underling disease reasons for ICU transfer (except sepsis), basic vital signs, disease severity scores, or laboratory findings including infection, immune, blood routine, liver, kidney and circulatory indicators except neutrophils count (NEU), hypersensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP), hemoglobin (Hb), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) between the two groups. The height (cm: 160±6 vs. 166±8), body weight (kg: 49.4±11.2 vs. 57.6±10.5), Hb (g/L: 87±18 vs. 104±24) in HCMV reactivation group were significantly lower than non-reactivation group, as well as NEU [×10 9/L:12.7 (9.9, 22.5) vs. 8.9 (6.2, 13.8)], hs-CRP [mg/L: 115.5 (85.2, 136.6) vs. 39.9 (17.5, 130.2)], BUN [mmol/L:13.7 (8.9, 21.5) vs. 7.1 (4.9, 10.5)] and NT-proBNP [ng/L: 6 751 (2 222, 25 449) vs. 1 469 (419, 4 571)] within 24 hours of admission to ICU. The prevalence of sepsis [60.0% (6/10) vs. 15.8% (6/38)], blood transfusion [100.0% (10/10) vs. 60.5% (23/38)], hospitalization expense [ten thousand yuan: 35.7 (25.3, 67.1) vs. 15.2 (10.4, 22.0)], 90-day all-cause mortality [70.0% (7/10) vs. 21.1% (8/38)], length of ICU stay [days: 26 (16, 66) vs. 14 (9, 19)], the duration of mechanical ventilation [days: 26 (19, 66) vs. 13 (8, 18)] in HCMV reactivation group were significantly higher than non-reactivation group, and there were significant statistical differences between the two groups (all P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that sepsis was an independent risk factor for HCMV reactivation in immunocompetent mechanical ventilation severe pneumonia patients with mechanical ventilation [odds ratio ( OR) = 9.35, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was 1.72-50.86, P = 0.010]. Conclusions:HCMV infection is very common in immunocompetent severe pneumonia patients on mechanical ventilation and incidence of HCMV reactivation is high. Moreover, HCMV reactivation could adversely affect clinical prognoses, and sepsis may be a risk factor for HCMV reactivation.

Objective:To investigate the incidence and risk factors of active human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia.Methods:Patients who required respiratory support and were diagnosed with severe community-acquired pneumonia in the respiratory intensive care unit (RICU) of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University from March 1, 2019 to June 1, 2020 were consecutively screened and divided into active HCMV infection group (20 cases) and non-active HCMV infection group (95 cases) based on whether a patient has active HCMV infection or not. Differences in demographic data, laboratory findings, and clinical outcomes were compared between the two groups. Moreover, logistic regression was applied to analyze risk factors for active HCMV infection.Results:The 20 of 115 patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia requiring respiratory support were confirmed to have active infection with HCMV, with a prevalence of active HCMV infection of 17.4%. The pneumonia severity index (PSI) and suppressor T lymphocytes (Ts) in active HCMV infection group were higher than that of the control group, and all the differences were statistically significant ( Z=2.432, P=0.015; Z=2.036, P=0.042); whereas lymphocytes, monocytes, blood lactate, and platelet levels were lower than those of the control group, and all the differences were statistically significant ( P < 0.05). Patients with active HCMV infection had a higher transfusion rate than the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (χ 2=3.941; P=0.047). Increasing levels of PSI and Ts percentage were independent risk factors for active HCMV infection ( OR=1.03, 95% CI: 1.01~1.05; OR=1.06, 95% CI: 1.00~1.11; P < 0.05). RICU length of stay, complication rates, and 90-day all-cause mortality were higher in the active HCMV infection group than the control group, and all the differences were statistically significant ( P < 0.05). Conclusions:Active HCMV infection is highly prevalent in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia and associated with several adverse clinical outcomes, with PSI and Ts cell levels being independent risk factors.

Objective: To evaluate the impacts of the prognostic factors of T2N0M0 upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) for Chinese patients.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted including 235 patients who were diagnosed with T2N0M0 UTUC in our hospital and received radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) or partial ureterectomy during January 2000 and December 2013.The 3 and 5-year can-cer-specific survival rates and bladder recurrence-free survival rates of all the patients were valued using Kaplan-Meier method, and the survival curves with statistical significance between the two were compared using the Log-rank test.Variables with significant differences in the univariate analysis were subjected to the multivariate analysis by Cox regression model.Results: A total of 235 patients were included in this study, including 95 (40.4%) male patients and 140 (59.6%) female patients.The mean age was 66.73±10.49 years.The median follow-up time was 53 (rang: 3-142) months, and during the follow-up, 74 (31.5%) patients died of UTUC after a median of 35 months,and 96 (40.9%) patients developed intravesical recurrence after a median of 19.5 months.The 3 and 5-year cancer-specific survival rates of all the patients were 89.1% and 85.9%, respectively;the bladder recurrence-free survival rates were 85.5% and 80.2%, respectively.The independent prognostic factors of cancer-specific mortality were tumor age elder than 55 years (HR=3.138, 95%CI: 1.348-7.306, P=0.008) and diameter larger than 5 cm (HR=3.320, 95%CI: 1.882-5.857, P<0.001).The independent prognostic factors of bladder recurrence-free survival were ureter tumor (HR=1.757, 95%CI: 1.159-2.664, P=0.008) and lower tumor grade (HR=1.760, 95% CI: 1.151-2.692, P=0.009).Conclusion: T2N0M0 UTUC has a better cancer-specific survival.The intravesical recurrence was equivalent to non-muscle invasive UTUC but earlier.The tumor diameter larger than 5 cm and the patient age elder than 55 years were independently associated with cancer-specific mortality;the primary tumor located in ureter and lower tumor grade were more likely to develop intravesical recurrence.

Objective To evaluate the risk factors and prognosis of high risk bladder recurrence developing after radical nephroureterectomy(RNU) for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).Methods The data of 148 UTUC patients who developed bladder tumor after RNU between January 2000 and December 2013 was retrospectively studied.There were 69 males and 79 females,aged from 34 to 82 years old (average 68 years old).83 patients were accompanied with hydronephrosis.80 patients were renal pelvic carcinoma.32 patients had the history of smoking.24 patients had the history of ureteroscope.68 patients had the tumor larger than 3 cm.Logistic regression model was used to analyze the risk factors of muscle invasive and high grade bladder recurrence lesions.We compared the clinocopathologic characteristics between primary UTUC and bladder cancer recurrence by using Fisher' s exact test.Cancer specific survival was analyzed 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 Of the 148 patients,non-muscle invasive (Tis、Ta and T1) tumors of primary UTUC and bladder recurrence were 51 (34.5％) and 119 (80.4％),respectively.High grade (G3) tumors of primary UTUC and bladder recurrence were 41 (27.7％) and 53(35.8％),respectively.During follow-up,94 (63.5％) experienced bladder recurrence once and 54 (36.5％) experienced multiple bladder recurrence.The median follow-up time was 59.5 (rang 8-142) months,48 (32.4％) patients died of UTUC.The grade of bladder cancer recurrence correlated with the grade (P =0.046),muscle-invasion (P =0.002) and tumor architecture (P =0.034) of the primary UTUC;muscle-invasive bladder cancer recurrence associated with that of the primary UTUC (P =0.009);bladder multiple recurrence related to gender (P =0.007).On multivariate logistic regression analysis,the muscle-invasion of primary UTUC was an independent risk factor for muscle-invasive (HR =5.512,95％ CI 1.654-18.37,P =0.004) and high grade (HR =3.948,95％ CI 1.589-9.813,P =0.004) bladder recurrence tumor.The muscle invasion of primary UTUC (HR =3.498,95％ CI 1.569-7.803,P =0.002) was a prognostic factor for cancer specific survival on multivariate Cox regression analysis.Conclusions Muscle-invasive UTUC tend to predict high risk bladder recurrence tumor,and the female could be more likely to appear multiple recurrence tumor.The muscle invasion of primary UTUC could be an independent prognostic factor for cancer specific survival.