The prognostic significance of morphometry in T1 bladder tumours

Only 3% of patients with T1 bladder tumours die of bladder carcinoma within 5 years (Williams, Hammonds & Saunders 1977), therefore these patients are initially treated conservatively. There would however be benefits from being able to predict which patients should be treated more aggressively. Morphometry was applied to quantitate characteristic microscopical features of the removed T1 tumours in 16 patients who had survived for five years and in seven patients dead from the tumour, in order to evaluate the prognostic value of this method. The measurements of nuclear and cytoplasmic areas were made on routine H & E sections with a graphic tablet (ASM, Leitz). Statistical analysis of the obtained data revealed that there were significant differences between the two groups. It indicated that morphometric parameters of T1 bladder tumours can have prognostic as well as therapeutic significance which will be further tested in a prospective study.