Herald lesion of the urinary bladder

The herald lesion of the urinary bladder is defined as an unspecific localized cystitis, eventually polypoid, in patients with symptoms from the lower urinary tract. The herald lesion is visualized by cystoscopy. Biopsies from the lesion show unspecific acute and/or chronic inflammation often accompanied by hyperplasia of the transitional cell epithelium. The herald lesion portends a neoplastic or inflammatory process in neighbouring organs. At our Institute of Pathology fourteen cases of the herald lesion were diagnosed during one and a half years. In 113 consecutive patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease no case of the herald lesion was found.