Transurethral resection in one piece (TURBO) is an accurate tool for pathological staging of bladder tumor.
OBJECTIVE
To demonstrate the usefulness of transurethral resection in one piece (TURBO) as an accurate pathological staging tool for bladder tumor.


METHODS
Ninety-seven patients with newly diagnosed bladder cancer underwent TURBO that was performed either in an en bloc or in a divisional manner. The histological quality of the resection specimens was evaluated and the pathological stage was assigned on the basis of the depth of invasion, which was histologically determined.


RESULTS
Specimens obtained by TURBO were well oriented and their 3-D architecture was maintained. This allowed a histological assessment of the entire specimen. Portions of muscularis propria were identified beneath the tumor base in the specimens of 80 (82%) patients. In only seven (7%) patients, the tumors had a deep resection margin positive for carcinoma and were ambiguously staged as "pT1 or higher" or "pT2 or higher". Thus, definite pathological staging of TURBO specimens was possible in 90 (93%) patients (pTa, 30; pT1, 58; pT2, 2).


CONCLUSIONS
An accurate pathological stage can be assigned to the TURBO specimen in most bladder cancer patients.
Ukai
Rinzo
R
Department of Urology, Hiroshima General Hospital of West Japan Railway Company, Hiroshima, Japan. ukai-r@sa2.so-net.ne.jp
Hashimoto
Kunihiro
K
Iwasa
Tsuguo
T
Nakayama
Hirofumi
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004210:Dissection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D019459:Urothelium / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery