Primary carcinoma of the upper urinary tract

Thirty-seven patients with upper urinary tract tumours were evaluated for grade, stage, histological type, location, presence or absence of vascular invasion, abnormalities in the urothelium adjacent to the tumours, tumour multiplicity and patient survival. A good correlation between tumour grade and stage was found in the transitional cell tumours. Squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas were high-stage tumours. Vascular invasion was present in most high-grade tumours, squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinomas. Four patients had multifocal tumours of both pelvis and ureter. Three developed ureteric stump carcinomas and 13 had further development of bladder carcinomas. The cumulative 5 and 10 year survival rates were 43 and 23% respectively.