Bladder cancer after managing upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma: risk factors and survival

To identify independent risk factors for the development of bladder cancer after surgical management of upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma (UUT-TCC).

Between January 1999 and December 2008, 154 patients were treated surgically for UUT-TCC at the Clinic of Urology, Clinical Center of Serbia. Patients with a previous history of bladder cancer and patients with concomitant bladder cancer were excluded from the study. In all, 92 patients were then available for evaluation. The median follow-up after surgery was 39.5 months. Univariate and multivariate analyses using the logistic regression model were performed. The intravesical disease-free rate and survival were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to determine statistical differences.

In this study, 21.7% patients treated for UUT-TCC developed subsequent bladder tumors. Tumor multifocality was the only independent predictor associated with the development of subsequent bladder cancer (P = 0.028, RR = 3.52). Intravesical recurrence-free survival rates for these 92 patients at 1, 3, 5, and 7 years were 85.8, 80, 79.3, and 78.3%, respectively. Patients with tumors extending to multiple sites were significantly more likely to present subsequent intravesical recurrence (P = 0.006). The development of bladder cancer had no significant effect on the survival of patients who underwent surgical treatment of UUT-TCC, compared to patients without bladder cancer development (P = 0.660). Neither did the type of surgery mode affect patient survival (P = 0.245). This study is limited by biases associated with its retrospective design.

The multiplicity of the UUT-TCC is an independent risk factor for the occurrence of bladder cancer.