Clinicopathological Features of Bladder Tumours in a Single Institution in Malaysia

Objective: To determine the clinicopathological features of bladder tumours encountered over a five yearperiod in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre.
Methods: Medical records of bladder tumour casesfrom 2005 till 2009 were retrospectively reviewed and tabulated.
Results: A total of 83 cases were recorded. Theincidence was highest among the Chinese (56.6%), followed by Malays (34.9%), Indians (6%) and other races(2.4%). The male-to-female ratio was 9.4:1. The median age was 65 years (range 30-91 years) and medianduration of follow up was 17.2 months (range 2-60 months). The main histopathology was transitional cellcarcinoma (TCC) (90.4%), followed by adenocarcinoma (6%), squamous cell carcinoma (1.2%), leiomyoma(1.2%) and myeloid sarcoma (1.2%). For the TCCs, 58.6% were superficial while 41.4% were muscle invasive,and 13.3% had nodal metastasis with distant metastasis in 8%. Of the total, 5.3% were papillary urothelialtumours of low malignant potential, 33.3% pTa, 20% pT1, 10.7% pT2, 12.0% pT3 and 18.7% pT4. Of thesuperficial tumours, 32.5% were high grade tumours. There were ten radical cystectomies performed fortransitional cell carcinomas; two had neobladder reconstruction whereas the other eight had ileal conduits. Allthe adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas were treated by radiotherapy due to the advanced stage ofthe disease while the myeloid sarcoma received chemotherapy. Mean survival of patients with muscle invasivecancer was 33±5 months. By the end of the study, 18.1% of patients had died of their cancer.
Conclusion: Theincidence of bladder tumours is highest among the Chinese. When compared to other studies, the incidence ofmuscle invasive and high-grade superficial tumours was greater.