Management of high grade transitional cell cancer of the upper urinary tract

A total of 175 patients was operated on for grade 2, 3 or 4 transitional cell epithelioma of the upper urinary tract. Followup was between 5 and 26 years. The operations involved total nephroureterectomy, simple nephrectomy and local resection. Patient survival correlated well with tumor stage and, particularly, with tumor grade, and, consistently, was inferior to that of an age and sex-matched control group. The correlation of survival and ipsilateral tumor recurrence with the type of operation suggests that patients with grade 2 tumors may benefit from total nephroureterectomy. The incidence of ipsilateral tumor recurrence (28 per cent) was high in this group. The radical procedure seems to be of no benefit to patients with grade 3 or 4 tumors. The incidence of subsequent bladder tumor was 30 per cent in patients with grades 2 and 3 tumors. The latent period ranged from 2 months to 10 years (average 23 months); 82 per cent of the tumors occurred within 3 years of treatment of the upper tract tumor.