In vivo staining test with methylene blue for bladder cancer

An in vivo staining test with 0.2 per cent methylene blue was applied to 129 patients with bladder tumor and 16 patients with chronic cystitis within a 6-year interval. Although normal mucosa did not pick up the stain nonpapillary in situ and microinvasive carcinomas did so frequently. Moderate dysplasia was stained in about half of the patients. The intensity of the stain in papillary tumors was correlated with the histologic anaplasia (grade). Grade 1 tumors were stained poorly or unstained in 86 per cent of the tests, whereas grades 2 and 3 tumors picked up the stain in 74 and 96 per cent of the tests, respectively. Even a tiny tumor, if poorly differentiated, was identified easily by the blue stain. The histologic anaplasia of tumors could be assessed roughly according to the intensity of the stain. However, chronic cystitis occasionally took up the stain, especially in cases of marked inflammatory infiltrate a deep stain was recognized. To differentiate nonpapillary early cancer from chronic cystitis the addition of a cytologic examination may be necessary.