[Study of bladder tumors using ultrasonics]

The authors used ultrasound to evaluate bladder tumours, both in their detection and in the assessment of their stage. 105 bladder tumours were studied in this way. Provided the tumour is larger than 1 cm, all of the bladder tumours can be discovered on a well performed ultrasound. This investigation also enables an evaluation of the morphology of the tumour, its base of implantation, its site and its size. All of these tumours were resected either via the transurethral approach or by cystectomy (19 cases), so that a comparison could be made between the histological findings and the ultrasound findings. Of the 55 stage I tumours, ultrasound had provided an accurate diagnosis in 48 cases (87.2%). 7 tumours were incorrectly classified as being T2; that is, over-estimated. Of the 22 patients with stage T2 tumours, the ultrasound diagnosis was correct in 15 cases (68%) with 2 under-estimations and 5 over-estimations (considered as being T3). Of the 28 patients with T3 tumours, the ultrasound diagnosis was correct in 25 cases (89.2%) with only three under-estimations as T2. In general, the authors found that ultrasound had a 92.3% reliability in distinguishing between the 2 main types of tumour: the infiltrating and the non infiltrating. This degree of reliability is superior to all other methods. With trans-abdominal ultrasound, the authors obtained degrees of reliability comparable to those of other authors using endo-cavitary ultrasound.