[A clinical evaluation of lymphography in bladder tumor]

A study was conducted in a total of 51 patients with urinary bladder tumor who had received surgical operation associated with removal of regional lymph nodes after lymphography. Abnormal findings were observed in lymphogram of 22 patients. The other 29 patients showed no such abnormality. After the operation pathological metastasis was confirmed in 7 patients. Lymphograms of these patients ith positive lymphatic metastasis revealed filling defects in 85.7% and collaterals in 57.4%. There as correlation between the occurrences of these two findings based on quantification analysis III of multivariate analysis. Lymphography before operation showed 87.5% of sensitivity, 65.1% of specificity and accuracy of 68.6%, not having higher accuracy compared to other studies. These results suggest that lymphography, which may have clinical significance, is not a decisive method in exploration of bladder tumor. Comprehensive analysis of diagnostic imaging should be performed, including CT after lymphography.