New concepts in staging and follow-up of bladder carcinoma

This article presents new staging systems and methods for properly assessing bladder carcinoma by computerized tomography (CT) scanning and transurethral ultrasound. The practical clinical modalities for following bladder cancer including cytology and random biopsy are presented, in addition to tumor markers. Also, newer methods of detecting recurrence and predicting invasion such as ABO(H) antigen testing, chromosome analysis, and flow cytometry are reviewed in an attempt to understand better the cellular and nuclear abnormalities in malignant transitional cells.