Bladder tumor staging by transurethral ultrasonic scanning.

To determine tumor stage, 115 bladder cancer patients with cystoscopic suspicion of invasion underwent transurethral ultrasonic scanning. Seventeen patients who had received radiotherapy were excluded because it proved impossible to differentiate between tumor and irradiation sequelae. Of the remaining 98 examinations, 4 (4.1%) were inconclusive, 73 tumors (74.5%) were correctly staged, 16 tumors (16.3%) were overstaged and 5 tumors (5.1%) understaged. Transurethral ultrasound is regarded a useful supplement to cytoscopy and biopsy in staging of bladder tumors suspected of invasion.