Two new studies that further examine the links between cigarette smoking and urologic cancers were presented to reporters during a special press conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on May 15, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. during the 106th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). The session will be moderated by Toby Kohler, MD.

Cigarette Smoking Is Associated With Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma (#1256): While cigarette smoking is a recognized risk factor for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) , kidney cancer, researchers from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC examined the relationship between smoking and tumor pathology. In a retrospective review of patients undergoing surgery for RCC between 2000 and 2009, researchers found that heavier smoking increases the likelihood of advanced disease with a dose dependent effect; cessation reduced the risk of advanced disease. The study examined 845 patients. Current and former smokers had advanced disease 1.5 to 1.6 times as much as non-smokers. Heavier smoking (longer duration and exposure) was associated with advanced RCC. Quitting reduced the odds of advanced disease by 9 percent per smoke-free decade.

Discordance Between Time Trends of Bladder Cancer Incidence And Cigarette Consumption in The US (#1065): Researchers from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse investigated the relationship between trends in bladder cancer incidence and cigarette consumption in the United States. They discovered by examining data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database that, while the rates of lung cancer in the U.S. dropped consistently with the per capita consumption of cigarettes between 1973 and 2007, the rates of bladder cancer did not fall as consistently.

They noted that the decrease of cigarette consumption might have decreased the incidence of bladder cancer, but that this positive effect may have been masked by other factors contributing to a rise in bladder cancer incidences over the last several decades.

"These two studies shed new insight into the role that smoking might have for two important urologic cancers." Dr. Kohler said. "For kidney cancer, it is true that kidney tumors are more often being detected these days when they are smaller. However, smoking seems to confer a much greater risk that the cancer may be more aggressive. Cessation of smoking seems to lower the risk. For bladder cancer on the other hand, the decrease in smoking rates has not impacted the incidence to the same degree that it has for lung cancer, suggesting that there may be other factors which are becoming more important for development of the disease."

Source:
American Urological Association