Cell surface antigen in bilharzial bladder tumours

Detection of the ABO (H) blood group in the urothelium in cases of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder is a good indicator of the future behaviour of these tumours. Since conventional histopathological and clinical examination in bilharzial bladder carcinoma shows a clinical staging error rate of 37.2%, we used the specific red cell adherence (SRCA) technique to study the cell surface antigens in 28 patients over a 5-year period. A prediction rate of 63.6 to 84.6% was obtained when correlated with clinical behaviour.