Prognostic correlation of morphometric values with survival in invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder

A morphometric study was made of 95 invasive bladder tumours, differentiating 34 papillary and 61 solid carcinomas. In the invasive papillary tumours, the deeper the zone of the tumour measured, the higher the value of the mean nuclear area. A higher histological grade was also seen to correspond to a higher mean nuclear area value except for Grade IV tumours, whose nuclear area was no larger than that for Grade III tumours. This led us to separate Grade IV tumours from transitional cell carcinomas and classify them as undifferentiated. A better prognosis was found for those tumours whose mean nuclear area was < or = 30 microns2 in category T2. For T3 and T4A tumours no conclusive results were obtained in this respect.