[Diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer]

The authors present a retrospective analysis of the results of transurethral conservative and radical operations in 125 patients with invasive cancer of the urinary bladder (UB) treated in the Research Institute of Urology throughout 1992-2002. Transurethral resection (TUR) of the UB was made in 72 patients. Stages pT2a, pT2b, T3 and T4 were diagnosed in 23 (31.9%), 18 (25%), 14 (19.5%) and 17 (23.6%) cases, respectively. 53 patients with advanced invasive UB cancer have undergone radical cystectomy varying by the method of urine derivation. Stages pT2N0M0, pT3aN0M0, pT3bN0M0, pT4aN0M0 and N1-2 were registered in 4 (7.5%), 13 (25%), 21 (40%), 7 (12.5%) and 8 (15%) patients, respectively. UB cancer recurrences after TUR occurred in 12 (16.7%) patients with stage pT2a, in 8 (11.1%) patients with stage pT2b. Three-year overall and recurrence-free survival after TUR at stage T2 reached 97.5 +/- 3.2 and 47.4 +/- 2.8, respectively, at stage T3 and T4--57.1 +/- 4.3 and 26.6 +/- 3.4%, respectively. Postcystectomy distant metastases to the lungs, bones and iliac lymph nodes after treatment were detected in 3, 2 and 3 patients, respectively. One patient had a local pelvic recurrence. For all 53 patients a 2-year corrected survival made up 68 +/- 12.0%. Thus, transurethral electrosurgery is an effective treatment of invasive UB cancer; the only radical surgical treatment for invasive UB cancer is cystectomy.