Morphological and clinical observations of patients with early bladder cancer treated with total cystectomy.

In 21 cases, early bladder cancer was detected by urine cytology, although not by cystoscopy, and was treated by total cystectomy. The neoplasms, all transitional cell carcinomas of moderate to high degrees of anaplasia, were entirely in situ in 17 of the 21 patients; in 4, although mainly in situ, the tumors showed additional minimal microinvasion. Widespread mucosal involvement was demonstrated in every case by step-sectioning, and extension into the prostatic ducts occurred in 7 of the 19 male patients and into the mucosa of one or both distal ureters in 12 patients. Premalignant atypia of the mucosa was also widespread and direct intramucosal spread of cancer cells was a significant factor, particularly along the prostatic ducts and ureters. The duration of significant symptoms (follow-up for 9 years before cystectomy in several cases and for 8 years in 1 histologically proved case) suggests that the evolution of these tumors may be considerably longer than previously documented.