STUDIES ON VASCULAR INVASION OF TUMOR CELLS IN BLADDER CANCER
1987 Volume 78 Issue 7 Pages 1199-1204
Details
1987 Volume 78 Issue 7 Pages 1199-1204
The significance of vascular invasion of tumor cells in bladder cancer was estimated with surgical specimen of 43 patients treated by total cystectomy from January 1978 to February 1986. The results are summarized as follows:
1) The vascular invasion of tumor cells was observed in 14 out of the 43 cases (32.6%).
2) The survival rate of the cases without vascular invasion of tumor cells was significantly higher than that of the cases with vascular invasion (p<0.01).
3) Eleven of the 14 cases with vascular invasion of tumor cells (78.6%) were with high grade (grade 3) tumor. Eleven of the 26 cases with high grade tumor (42.3%) showed vascular invasion of tumor cells. On the contrary, only 3 of the 17 cases with low grade (grade 1 or 2) tumor (17.6%) exhibited vascular invasion of tumor cells.
4) Ten of the 14 cases with vascular invasion of tumor cells (71.4%) were with high stage (pT3 or pT4) tumor. Ten of the 13 cases with high stage tumor (76.9%) showed vascular invasion of tumor cells. On the contrary, only 4 of the 30 cases with low stage tumor (13.3%) exhibited vascular invasion of tumor cells.
5) There was no significant difference in the incidence of vascular invasion of tumor cells between the cases with and without preoperative radiotherapy.
6) Four of the 14 cases with vascular invasion of tumor cells received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Their prognosis was much better than that of the remaining 10 cases without postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. We emphasized that patients with vascular invasion of tumor cells should be treated as cases with early micrometastases, even though they cannot be detected clinically.
