Bladder lesions as incidental findings during transurethral resection of the prostate: prevalence, diagnosis, and pathological findings.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of bladder lesions diagnosed during transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), to identify the associated risk factors, and to correlate the macroscopic descriptions with the pathological findings.
METHODS: This was a single-center retrospective case series conducted at a hospital in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. We reviewed the medical and surgical records of patients who underwent TURP between January 2012 and December 2017.
RESULTS: The final sample comprised 513 patients, with a mean age of 70.8 years. Bladder lesions were identified during TURP in 109 (21.2%) of the patients, and 90 of those lesions were submitted for pathological examination. The most common macroscopic finding was bullous edema, which was seen in 57 (63.3%) of the 90 lesions examined. The pathological analysis revealed chronic cystitis in 61 lesions (67.8%) and malignant lesions in 16 (17.8%). Of the 57 lesions described as bullous edema, 5 (8.8%) were found to be malignant.
CONCLUSIONS: Alterations in the bladder mucosa appear to be more common among elderly patients who use an indwelling urinary catheter for a prolonged period and among patients with recurrent urinary tract infections. In addition, the risk of a bladder lesion being malignant is apparently higher in current and former smokers than in never smokers. Our findings suggest that at-risk patients should undergo biopsy or resection of incidental bladder lesions even if those lesions seem to be benign, due to the low level of agreement between the visual analysis and the pathological examination.