Risk of local urethral recurrence after radical cystectomy for bladder cancer.

Radical cystectomy and urinary diversion were performed on 349 patients with transitional cell cancer of the bladder. Followup for 4 to 13 years revealed that 91 and 83 per cent of the patients were free of urethral recurrence 5 and 10 years after cystectomy, respectively. Statistical elimination of urethral recurrences did not improve the over-all survival rate significantly. It appears that supplementation of cystectomy with simultaneous urethrectomy may not be justified if the urethra is not involved by the cancer.