[Use of marker systems in the treatment of bladder cancer]

Accepted prognostic factors for urothelial carcinomas of the bladder are tumor grade, T category, and in cases of muscle invasive carcinoma lymph node status. These morphological criteria correlate in general with the clinical course of patients suffering from bladder cancer. Beside histomorphological criteria the search for prognostic markers independent of histological evaluation seems to be important as the clinical course of bladder cancer patients can be very heterogeneous. For this purpose we reviewed the current literature and focussed on additional molecular markers with prognostic relevance.