Renal pelvic carcinoma: morphological correlates of metastatic behavior.

We report a clinicopathological analysis of morphological parameters in relation to subsequent biological behavior in 48 patients with renal pelvic carcinoma. The relationships of subsequent metastasis to tumor stage and grade, as well as the presence of vascular, renal parenchymal or renal hilar invasion were evaluated by parametric and nonparametric statistical tests. Corrected 5-year survival rates for grades 1 to 3 tumors were 100, 67 and 5 per cent, respectively. Grade 3 tumors demonstrated more invasion of the blood vessels, hilus and renal parenchyma compared to grades 1 and 2 tumors (p less than 0.005, 46 patients). Moreover, invasion of renal hilar tissues had greater predictive value for subsequent distant metastatic spread (95 per cent, nonparametric) than either vascular (83 per cent) or renal parenchymal (77 per cent) invasion. Metastases developed in 27 of 48 patients during followup periods of 2 to 39 years. The pattern of metastatic lesions revealed that local spread to hilar soft tissues occurred in 92 per cent of the patients who subsequently had distant metastases. Spread to retroperitoneal lymph nodes and ipsilateral ureteral mucosa occurred in 84 and 44 per cent of the patients, respectively. Our study illustrates the potential value of analysis of individual histological parameters to evaluate the likelihood of subsequent metastasis.