The role of aspiration cytology in the management of ureteral obstruction in patients with known cancer.

In patients with known cancer, especially in cases of genitourinary cancer, thickening of the ureteral wall secondary to irradiation, chemotherapy, or surgery may make the diagnosis of metastasis, recurrence or persistence of malignancy very difficult. Since it is impossible to determine by radiologic imaging methods, whether the stricture is benign or malignant in nature, exploratory laparotomy with direct tissue biopsy remains the only procedure for an accurate diagnosis of the cause of the obstruction. As such surgery carries a significant level of morbidity, nonaggressive diagnostic techniques should be considered. The authors investigated the usefulness of aspiration biopsy cytology under fluoroscopic guidance in establishing the true nature of ureteral stenosis in 15 patients with known primary malignancy, who had previously been treated with surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy. The etiology of the primary malignancies were uterine cervix (six), bladder (two), prostate (two), uterine corpus (two), pancreas (one), stomach (one), and rectum (one). Thirteen patients had metastatic ureteral involvement. There were no false-positive or false negative cytologic findings, therefore diagnostic accuracy was 100%. In the authors' experience the success of aspiration biopsy cytology depends on the skill and experience of the physician performing the procedure. The results of this study and review of the literature demonstrate that aspiration biopsy cytology is an accurate, minimally invasive means for correct cytologic diagnosis of ureteral strictures which can complicate cancer, without resorting to more aggressive diagnostic procedures.