[Stage T1 tumor of the bladder. From research to prognosis]

The reserved prognosis of stage T1 (A) bladder tumours is emphasised in relation to a series of 41 cases: 95% of tumours recurred, one third of these recurrent tumours posed a therapeutic problem because of their diffuse nature (15%) or tumour progression (24%). The risk of allowing a limited tumour to progress towards and extensively infiltrating carcinoma justifies the search for a prognostic factor allowing the early recognition of the more aggressive lesions. At the present time, no one prognostic element can indicate with certainty the course of the T1 tumour. All of the data obtained from detailed histological examination of the tumour and the adjacent urothelium and from the early course of the tumour allow a better evaluation of the prognosis. The search for surface antigens (ABO) and, more recently, chromosome analysis and study of the DNA content of the tumour by flow cytometry, may complete this prognostic evaluation.