Background and Objectives: Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is one of the most prevalent and lethal cancers worldwide. Identifying and understanding the factors that influence treatment outcome is essential for improving therapeutic effectiveness and predicting patient response. The objective of this review is to estimate how clinical, biochemical, molecular and therapeutic factors impact the prognosis of patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) and metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Methods: A review was performed using PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases. All articles were published from 2013 to 2025 focusing on prognostic factors in locally advanced and metastatic urothelial carcinoma treated with ICIs. Results: Clinical prognostic factors for patients treated with ICIs include poor Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status and the presence of liver or bone metastases, both associated with poor outcomes. Low hemoglobin levels and several biochemical markers, such as high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), elevated systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and low serum sodium are also associated with reduced survival. Programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression shows predictive relevance for ICI response. Concomitant use of antibiotics or proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may diminish immunotherapy effectiveness. Additionally, sarcopenia and high lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels correlate with poorer clinical outcomes. Conclusions: Prognostic outcomes in aUC and mUC are influenced by a complex interaction of clinical, biochemical and molecular factors. Integrative prognostic models are essential to the guidance of personalized immunotherapeutic strategies and the improvement of patient outcomes in aUC and mUC.
Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) accounts for approximately 70% of newly diagnosed bladder cancer cases but exhibits significant clinical heterogeneity in treatment response and progression risk. While intravesical bacillus Calmette–GuérinCa (BCG) therapy remains the gold standard for high-risk disease, approximately 30–50% of patients experience BCG failure, creating a critical decision point between additional bladder-sparing therapy (BST) and early radical cystectomy (RC). Recent clinical data from the CISTO study suggest that, in appropriately selected patients, RC may be associated with higher 12-month recurrence-free survival while maintaining comparable cancer-specific survival and physical functioning. In this narrative review, we synthesize contemporary evidence on NMIBC genomic and transcriptomic subtypes, immune contexture, and clinicopathologic features associated with BCG response and progression risk, with emphasis on clinically oriented classification systems such as BCG Response Subtypes (BRS1–3) and UROMOL21. We highlight how tumor-intrinsic biology (e.g., EMT-associated programs), immune phenotypes (inflamed vs. immune-cold microenvironments), and genomic alterations may help refine risk stratification beyond traditional clinicopathologic models. To facilitate clinical integration, we propose a conceptual decisional framework that combines molecular subtype assignment, immune profiling, key pathologic risk factors, and patient considerations to generate probabilistic risk tiers that support selection among early RC, BST, and clinical trial strategies. Standardized multicenter cohorts and prospective evaluation are needed to validate integrated models and define their clinical utility for the precision timing of cystectomy in BCG-unresponsive NMIBC.
Purpose: Open inguinal lymph node dissection (OILND) plays a crucial role in penile cancer management, but in order to improve patient outcomes, minimally-invasive (MILND) approaches were developed. Our “bottoms-up” MILND is a novel endoscopic technique, changing the way the sequence of dissection is performed. This study aims to compare our approach to the current standard of OILND in terms of oncologic and perioperative outcomes.Materials and methods: In our database, from 2016 to 2023, 12 patients underwent OILND and 16 had a “bottoms-up” MILND, which is performed with a three port configuration, starting the dissection under the fascia lata, dissecting the femoral vessels in the most distal part of the femoral fossa, followed by dissection of the proximal and superficial lymph nodes at the top of thefemoral triangle.Results: For MILND, median operation time per groin was shorter (58 vs 64 minutes, p=0.34), patients presented shorter hospital stays (10 vs 18 days, p=0.32) and fewer days with drains (14 vs 24 days, p=0.01). Median lymph node yield per groin was higher for MILND (10 vs 9 nodes, p=0.7), but OILND had a higher median of positive lymph nodes (4 vs 3 nodes, p=0.63). MILND patients experienced a lower incidence of major complications (33% vs 58%, p=0.007).Conclusions: We have proved that our technique of MILND is not inferior to the current standard and we believe that it can further improve patient outcomes with a safer, simplified and easily reproducible approach.
Trimodality therapy (TMT)—maximal transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy—can offer oncologic outcomes comparable to radical cystectomy (RC) in carefully selected muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) patients while preserving the bladder and, possibly, the quality of life. Systematic reviews and long-term series support durable bladder-intact survival in responders, yet there is still a significant percentage of patients who exhibit incomplete response or invasive intravesical recurrence requiring salvage RC. This review covers computational genomics, transcriptomics, immune contexture, radiogenomics, and digital pathology approaches for predicting response in order to avoid preventable TMT failures. We discuss clinically relevant endpoints (complete response, invasive recurrence, bladder-intact survival, and salvage RC), patient selection (carcinoma in situ, hydronephrosis, debulking feasibility, and histology), and DNA damage response (DDR) biology—highlighting ERCC2 and related pathways as determinants of chemo-radiation sensitivity. We then review reproducible transcriptomic subtype classifiers and immune deconvolution methods, emphasizing translational constraints and reporting standards. Finally, we propose an integrated hypothetical modeling framework (calibration, external validation, and decision-curve thresholds) to guide recommendations for upfront RC versus bladder preservation with intensified surveillance and timely salvage RC.
The prosecution of a person who has committed a prejudicial act is a priority of the state to protect a public interest, or to defend a fundamental right for which the state has commitments to respect. This article identifies the mental attitude of the subject of the crime towards the prejudicial act of organizing illegal migration. The article also elucidates the extent to which the migrant, who is the victim of the crime, is directed by the perpetrator. Also, attention is drawn to the purpose and motive of the crime. In the same context, it is analyzed what impact the victim’s consent has on the commission of the crime. In the author’s opinion, the analysis of the organization of illegal migration through the prism of its distinct elements plays a fundamental role for the legislation of the Republic of Moldova. It is concluded that the Moldovan legislator must introduce in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova the phrase “migrants’ trafficking”, in exchange for the current one of “organizing illegal migration”. This conclusion is based on the social requirement to protect the rights and interests of migrants. Thus, the Moldovan authorities will be able to identify the authentic purpose pursued by the perpetrator when violating human values and freedoms (the authorities will make a clear distinction between trafficking of human beings and trafficking of migrants).