Specific red cell adherence test applied to tumors of ureter and renal pelvis

The specific red cell adherence (SRCA) test used previously as a prognostic indicator of bladder tumors was used in a retrospective review of 14 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the ureter and renal pelvis. SRCA-positive individuals appear to have better survival and progress less frequently to metastatic disease. Of five patients with positive reactions, none had distant metastases. Conversely, in SRCA-negative individuals metastatic disease developed more frequently (4 of 9). The SRCA test can be as useful a test of the prognosis of ureteral and renal pelvis tumors as it is of urinary bladder tumors.