[Transurethral bladder echography in staging neoplasms: histopathological correlation (T/pT). Methodological proposal...

By real-time ultrasounds through an intra-vesical probe, bladder mucosal features, wall thickness and external profile, as well as their pathological changes, are beautifully imaged; therefore, the role of this echographic technique in the clinical pre-treatment assessment of tumor local staging is expected to be accurate and reliable, accordingly to the first results by Holms and co-w. We have intended to verify the value of the method, by comparing the pre-treatment staging by the more traditional non-invasive clinical procedures plus intra-vesical sonography to the pathological staging (pT) from the removed tumor samples. Our preliminary results are herein presented, from which the overall accuracy of this staging approach seems to be confirmed and a wider experimentation to be justified.