[Prognostic value of urinary cytology in bladder tumor]

Retrospective analysis was carried out to evaluate the prognostic value of urinary cytology in bladder tumor patients. All of the 170 patients (107 superficial (less than T2), 60 advanced (greater than T1) and 3 unknown (TX)), who were followed after their first occurrence, had histologically diagnosed transitional cell tumors. Recurrence rate for superficial cases was higher (p less than 0.05) when urinary cytology, either before or after the initial treatment, was positive than when negative. Patients with positive urinary cytology before the initial treatment proved to show poor prognosis compared to those with negative cytology (p less than 0.01), and many of the positive cases were with advanced cancer. Urinary cytology seemed to be indicative of the neoplastic potential of bladder tumor.