Hakozaki, Kyohei
Tanaka, Nobuyuki http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0841-9167
Takamatsu, Kimiharu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3325-6606
Takahashi, Ryohei
Yasumizu, Yota http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1725-6454
Mikami, Shuji
Shinojima, Toshiaki
Kakimi, Kazuhiro
Kamatani, Takashi
Miya, Fuyuki http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6758-2015
Tsunoda, Tatsuhiko
Aimono, Eriko
Nishihara, Hiroshi
Mizuno, Ryuichi
Oya, Mototsugu
Article History
Received: 23 December 2020
Revised: 13 August 2021
Accepted: 17 September 2021
First Online: 5 October 2021
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: All procedures were performed in approval of the Research Ethics Committee of Keio University (Approval Nos.: 20180098 and 20190059) and in compliance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and present ethical standards. The samples were residual from a clinical examination without using any identifiable information of the individuals or the application of any intervention. Participation in the study was optional. Both written informed consent and passive (opt-out) informed consent procedures have been applied to the experimental use of human samples. Opt-out informed consent from patients was obtained by exhibiting the research information on our department website (Department of Urology, Keio University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan). All participant patients or families of deceased patients could withdraw consent by contacting the researcher with a 24-h phone number. The need to obtain written informed consent was waived if patients had finished their follow-up or had died, due to the study’s observational nature and the urgent need for cancer patient care. This was approved and reviewed by the Research Ethics Committee of Keio University, in accordance with the ethical guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects (Public Notice of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare as of July 2018; ExternalRef removed).
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare no competing interests.