Modified nephroureterectomy: a risk of tumour implantation

The standard surgical management of patients presenting with transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract is nephroureterectomy with excision of a cuff of bladder around the ureteric orifice. Recently a modified technique of resecting the lower ureter endoscopically and completing the nephroureterectomy through a single loin incision has been advocated as a safe and simple procedure. We consider that this technique may have a risk of tumour implantation at the site of the resected lower ureter. We report our experience of this operation in five patients, two of whom developed invasive tumour at the site of the ureteric orifice after only a short follow-up.