Pathologic Demonstration of the Pattern of Vesical Carcinoma

Abstract

Bladder cancer is the most common carcinoma in Egypt. This has been confirmed by several series that have shown bladder cancer to have an incidence of around 18% of all cancer. In contrast, the incidence of bladder cancer in USA is between 3 to 5% (Parker, 1997) and in Europe between 2.2 to 7% (Esteve et al, 1993).

In western countries, more than 90% of primary carcinomas are transitional cell carcinoma (TCC), whereas, in Egypt, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has always accounted for the majority of cases of cancer bladder and this was attributed to the higher prevalence of bilharziasis.

This study was done to estimate the relative frequency of different histological types of bladder cancer and whether there was a change in the pattern of bladder cancer over years in the form of increase in the frequency of specific types and gradual regression in the incidence of others. In addition, the incidence of involvement of the. prostatic urethra and the distal ureters by the primary tumor in the bladder as well as regional lymph node involvement was also demonstrated in the study.

Fifty eight (58) patients with invasive bladder carcinoma admitted to the Kasr El­ Aini Urology department for radical cystectomy during a period of one year were included in our study. The majority of patients were males (47 patients), and the mean age was 56.8± 11.8 years. We found that transitional cell carcinoma accounted for the majority of cases (50%), squamous cell carcinoma represented (46.6%) and adenocarcinoma was seen in (3.4%) of cases. This finding matches with other series backing the concept of gradual regression in the incidence of squamous cell carcinoma and the increase in the incidence of transitional carcinoma.