Predicting individual outcomes after radical cystectomy in urothelial variants with Cancer of the Bladder Risk Assessment (COBRA) score

To validate the Cancer of the Bladder Risk Assessment (COBRA) score in patients with urothelial variants.

Epidemiological, clinical, radiological, and anatomopathological data were collected from patients with urothelial carcinoma who underwent radical cystectomy at the Institute of Cancer of São Paulo between May 2008 and December 2022. Patients with the presence of at least 10% of any urothelial variants in the radical cystectomy specimens’ anatomopathological exam were included in the study. The COBRA score and derivatives were applied and correlated with oncological outcomes.

A total of 680 patients [482 men (70.9%) and 198 women (29.1%)]; 66 years (IQR 59–73) underwent radical cystectomy for bladder tumor, and of these patients, a total of 167 patients presented any type of urothelial variant. The median follow-up time was 28.77 months (IQR 12–85). The three most prevalent UV were squamous differentiation (50.8%), glandular differentiation (31.3%), and micropapillary differentiation (11.3%). The subtypes with the worst prognosis were sarcomatoid with a median survival of 8 months (HR 1.161; 95% CI 0.555–2.432) and plasmacytoid with 14 months (HR 1.466; 95% CI 0.528–4.070). The COBRA score for patients with micropapillary variants demonstrated good predictive accuracy for OS (log-rank P = 0.009; 95% IC 6.78–29.21) and CSS (log-rank P = 0.002; 95% IC 13.06–26.93).

In our study, the COBRA score proved an effective risk stratification tool for urothelial histological variants, especially for the micropapillary urothelial variant. It may be helpful in the prognosis evaluation of UV patients after radical cystectomy.